Ecological restoration of sub-tidal and intertidal marine ecosystems in highly urbanised environments is extremely challenging. A complex mix of management objectives, regulatory requirements, local stakeholder expectations, estuary uses, traditional owner interests, project logistics and limited budgets can drive projects into inefficiency and social irrelevance.
The Noosa Oyster Ecosystem Restoration Project overcame numerous challenges to kick start rock oyster ecosystem restoration, at scale, in the Noosa River. The project utilised 3260 tonnes of local rock and 4 tonnes of recycled oyster shell to construct 30 oyster reef patches across 4 restoration sites.
The project involved more than 30 bilateral stakeholder and community meetings, over 40 communications products, a large dedicated technical team, 6 community stewardship projects, three years of time, a $3m budget and a collaborative relationship with Kabi Kabi Traditional Custodians.
The Noosa project is on a trajectory towards ecological success. Shoreline protection, water quality improvement and fisheries co-benefits are moderately expected, but extremely appealing to stakeholders.
Future phases of this project, and marine restoration projects generally, will be accepted more readily socially and politically, by designing for social co-benefits explicitly, and aligning these to government policy priorities and traditional owner interests.