ECAM are soon to launch a major restorative project
At ECAM we’ve been thinking about how to maximise the health and productivity of the bay and all the rivers in the whole greater Melbourne catchment, in the shortest possible time. We want to see clean healthy rivers as well as a clean healthy Port Phillip Bay.
This can be achieved with ecosystem restoration in the bay and river restoration in the catchment, which will involve improving stormwater management.
Port Phillip Bay was once a thriving ecosystem with rich, abundant biodiversity and clear water.
Underpinning the ecosystem was extensive cover of shellfish reefs that were destroyed by decades of dredging and unsustainable extraction. Once over 50% of Port Phillip Bay’s seabed was covered in critically important shellfish reefs, a vast seascape of blue mussels and flat oysters, providing vital habitats for countless marine species.
Unchecked over-harvesting of oysters over a duration of 100 years, dredge fishing, pollution and sediment runoff decimated these reefs, rendering them functionally extinct.