Artificial Reefs

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (14:35): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation questions regarding artificial reefs.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY: I understand that prior to the 2014 state election, the government announced plans for an artificial reef in partnership with RecFish SA. My questions are:

1. Can the minister provide an update on this matter?

2. Has a site been identified for an artificial reef?

3. When is the artificial reef due to be completed, and at what cost to the taxpayer?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:35): I thank the honourable member for his most important question in regard to the artificial reef that we will be building in the waters of South Australia. I understand that public consultation is coming to a close with recreational fishers on this matter. The questions to be assessed essentially are: what sort of reef do we want to build? Where do we want to build it? What species do we want to target? Is it a species, for example, that is going to be of interest to recreational anglers; or is it a species that is going to be targeted because of, for example, environmental conditions and species under pressure? All these issues will be considered.

The government has allocated $600,000 for the construction of this one reef, and it will be constructed in an area of this state which will return, hopefully, multiple benefits. Essentially, it was designed for recreational angler purposes—notionally—but that information will come from RecFish about what they want to target. They may say, for example, 'We want to target seagrass and we want to encourage the growth of seagrass around a particular reef.' So that, in turn, will encourage species that rely on seagrasses and, as I understand it, depending on the species you want to attract, you will build the reef in different ways. That decision, as I said, will be taken in the near term and I will be happy to come back to the Hon. Mr Darley and give him advice about that when the consultation period is over.