Two 50-tonne steel towers now sit on the seabed off the New South Wales north coast, part of a $2.7 million bet that purpose-built structures can turn empty sand into productive fishing grounds off Ballina and Coffs Harbour.
The two offshore artificial reefs, each costing $1.35 million, are the latest additions to the NSW government's offshore reef program. Each site holds a pair of steel structures built by NSW company SMC Marine, with modules fabricated in Queensland and towed hundreds of kilometres down the coast over several days before being sunk. Every structure has a 15.6-metre-square footprint, stands 12 metres tall and weighs 50 tonnes, with the pairs set roughly 100 metres apart in about 32 metres of water. The Ballina reef went in on 30 March, 3.5 kilometres off Patchs Beach; the Coffs reef was sunk south of the city, engineered to hold firm through a one-in-100-year storm.
Agriculture and Regional NSW Minister Tara Moriarty pitched the reefs as both a fishing and an economic play.
"The new Offshore Artificial Reefs at Ballina and Coffs Harbour are set to become a major drawcard, providing fantastic fishing opportunities for locals and visitors eager to catch a variety of fish species," Moriarty said.
She tied the spending directly to the sector's value. "Recreational fishing contributes $3.4 billion to the NSW economy each year and these reefs will only further that economic impact," Moriarty said.
The reefs were funded through the Recreational Fishing Trust — the pool built from fishing licence fees — and the Marine Estate Management Strategy. They are designed to draw mackerel, snapper, mulloway and baitfish, with marine growth expected to colonise the steel within about a year. Both are closed to recreational scuba diving, which the department strongly discourages on its purpose-built reefs for safety reasons.
North Coast MP Janelle Saffin cast the projects as a boost for towns rather than just anglers.
"This is a big win for the North Coast. These reefs aren't just about what's happening under the water; they are about the flow-on effects for our local small businesses," Saffin said.
Lands and Property Minister Steve Kamper added that the seabed sites reflect a broader use of public land. "Crown land plays an important role not just on land, but offshore as well," Kamper said.
The enthusiasm comes with a long-running scientific caveat. Marine researchers have argued for decades over whether artificial reefs actually produce new fish or simply concentrate the fish already there — the so-called "attraction versus production" debate. If reefs mostly aggregate existing stock, critics warn, they can make fish easier to catch and act as an ecological trap that lifts fishing pressure without adding to the population. A 2020 meta-analysis in Frontiers in Marine Science landed in the middle, concluding artificial reefs can be effective tools for enhancing fish communities but are "not one-size-fits-all," with results hinging on species, design and surrounding habitat.
For NSW fisheries managers, the structures are as much about spreading effort as creating it — giving trailer-boat anglers a reliable offshore mark closer to port, taking pressure off crowded natural reefs. Whether the Ballina and Coffs sites grow into genuine fish factories or simply become popular new spots to drop a line will not be clear until the marine life moves in and the catch data starts coming back.