The Reel Big Fish – Western Port project delivered by Melbourne Water has successfully restored native fish habitat across one of Victoria’s internationally recognised Ramsar wetlands, helping habitat and local fish varieties to flourish. 

This is designed to educate the community on the Australian Government funded projects undertaken by Melbourne Water as a Catchment Management Authority   

Speakers 

N1: Narrator/Speaker - Andrew Morrison – Melbourne Water, Senior Asset Planner – Land and Catchments 

[music] 

N1: Andrew Morrison 

We’re down here at Hastings on the shores of the Western Port Ramsar site where Melbourne Water have been working with a range of partners as part of the Reel Big Fish project. 

The aim was to restore fish habitat so we partnered with Ozfish, Bass Coast Land Care Network, Mornington Peninsula Shire, and the Bunurong Land Council to help us put in over 10,000 mangrove seedlings. 

There are a number of benefits to restoring mangroves across Western Port. It provides important habitat for juvenile fish species, we get a more resilient recreational fishing industry, and a natural protection to the really sensitive and fragile shoreline. 

We've created this army of volunteers now who have got the understanding and the skills to help us restore these sites and that's really led to some fantastic outcomes that we hope are just going to continue for another 5, 10, 20 years. 

[Melbourne Water logo] 

Instruction: Include [This project is funded by the Australian Government.]