The community and visitors to Noosa are invited to step on board the Noosa Oyster Gardening tour and explore newly created oyster reefs and fish hotels located throughout Noosa River.
The Noosa Oyster Gardening tour is one of six environment-based experiences offered through the Tread Lightly Noosa program, providing visitors with the opportunity to gain hands-on education and insight into local environmental projects and programs making a difference in Noosa today.
Departing from the Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort Jetty early morning, a total of nine passengers are taken on a guided tour of newly built reefs and hear first-hand from Noosa Integrated Catchment Association (NICA) and The Nature Conservatory (TNC) on the latest about the Noosa Oyster Gardening program.
Passengers can choose to get hands-on and support the recovery of Noosa’s endangered rock oyster ecosystem by examining suspended baskets filled with juvenile rock oyster spat while discovering the mini ecosystems thriving within.
The Noosa Oyster Gardening Program is part of the Noosa Oyster Ecosystem Restoration Project, supporting The Nature Conservancy’s efforts to restore 30 per cent of Australia’s lost shellfish ecosystems – if achieved, it would make Australia the first nation to recover a critically endangered marine ecosystem.
The Noosa Oyster Ecosystem Restoration Project is bringing back the lost oyster reefs of the Noosa River.
For thousands of years, First Nations peoples sustainably harvested oysters in Noosa and many other coastal estuaries of South-East Queensland. A combination of over-harvesting and anthropogenic changes to the river and its catchment has seen this type of ecosystem become functionally extinct.
Now ecosystem restoration is underway thanks to a project championed by The Nature Conservancy and Noosa Council and the Australian Government.
As part of this project, Noosa Integrated Catchment Association (NICA) is supporting restoration efforts by enlisting oyster gardeners to grow oysters in baskets under private jetties which are then released onto the project restoration site.
The project team supplies the oyster gardeners with juvenile oysters (called spat), which has been settled onto specially dried (or cured) oyster shell (called cultch) in a shellfish hatchery.
Oyster gardeners then raise the juvenile oysters to adulthood over a six-to-12-month period, monitoring their progress and keeping the gardens clean.
The oysters are then released onto the rocky foundations of the oyster ecosystem that the project has installed on the restoration sites.
Once released onto the restoration site, the oysters continue to grow to maturity, spawn and help recolonise the living reef ecosystem, effectively helping to kick start the ecosystem restoration.
Oyster gardeners support the growth of young oysters until their shells harden and are large enough to avoid being eaten on mass by predatory fish such as bream.
Tourism Noosa’s Tread Lightly Noosa program aims to encourage visitors to holiday in a more mindful and responsible way, providing the opportunity to lighten their environmental footprint while on holiday in the Noosa Biosphere Reserve.
For more information on the Tread Lightly Noosa program, visit visitnoosa.com.au/tread-lightly
The next Noosa Oyster Gardening tour is on Tuesday 28 February from 8.30-11am departing from and returning to the Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort Jetty. A ticket cost of $50 (inc GST) per person applies with 100 per cent of proceeds being donated to NICA.
For further information and to book, visit visitnoosa.com.au/tread-lightly/programs/noosa-oyster-gardening
