Mission to return flat oysters to Sydney receives millions for new reefs

The federal government has injected $2 million into the mission to return a locally extinct oyster to Sydney's Botany Bay.

The Nature Conservancy, an environmental not-for-profit, will use the funding to build more than 3 hectares of reefs at two spots in the Georges River estuary, one of which will be a habitat for the Australian flat oyster. 

Flat oysters became locally extinct in Botany Bay in the late 1800s due to overharvesting, disease and declining water quality. 

The 3 hectares will include intertidal reefs at Audrey Bay in the Woronora River and a sub-tidal reef off Taren Point. 

"Those reefs there (Taren Point) will be colonised and seeded with Australian flat oysters and support a real rich diversity of kelp and fish that utilise them for food and cover," Kirk Dahle from the conservancy said.

The Audrey Bay reef will become home to Sydney rock oysters and other marine creatures. 

The environmental group established 23 reefs over 3 hectares in Botany Bay last year, which brought the flat oyster back to the area for the first time in 100 years.

One million baby oysters were brought from Merimbula on the state's south coast and placed on the new reefs 5 metres below the surface. 

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the project would be a building block to bring more nature back to the river.

"We'll see ecosystems restored, we'll see better water quality and we'll just give people the opportunity of connecting with the natural environment in the way it used to be 100 and 200 years ago."

Ms Plibersek said the announcement had personal significance, having grown up in Oyster Bay on Georges River's southern shore.

"I remember wading through the mud and mangroves, catching crabs," she said.

"I think many parents and grandparents want their kids to experience playing in nature, and by restoring our natural environment, we can give future generations that experience."

At its peak in the 1970s, the oyster aquaculture industry on the Georges River produced a quarter of the state's produce. Disease, including the notorious QX, wiped out most of Sydney's oysters by 2001.

Mr Dahle said the conservancy aimed to develop 60 shellfish reefs in Australia by 2030 and that the funding would get the number to almost half of that. 

Millions for urban waterway revival projects

A $107 million funding round to the Urban Rivers and Catchments Program will also benefit more than 50 other environmental projects nationwide.

Projects in Greater Sydney include the following waterways: South Creek on the Northern Beaches, the Lane Cove River on the city's lower north shore and Jerry's Creek in Wallacia, near Warragamba Dam. 

It also includes an $8 million project to remove concrete and create new wetlands in Banksia, west of Sydney Airport, which aims to increase habitat for threatened green and golden bell frogs.

"We know that 96 per cent of Australians live in our suburbs and our cities. We want them to be able to experience nature as well," Ms Plibersek said. 

"Doing it close to home in our cities and suburbs means ... bringing nature back into our suburbs."