Queensland venues The Komo Hotel and The Belvedere Hotel are collecting thousands of oyster shells to help restore a nearby reef.
The Lewis Land Group venues, based in Redcliffe in the Moreton Bay Region, are giving the shells of oysters consumed by patrons to the Moreton Bay Reef Restoration Project.
Since joining the restoration project in mid-April, the Belvedere has sold over 12,084 oysters for the restoration project, up 3,330 on this time last year.
The Komo got involved in the project at the beginning of May and has sold over 2,000 oysters for the project, up 990 on this time last year.
Each week, the shells are collected by venue staff and given to volunteers with the project organiser OzFish to take to the recycling site to be cleaned, sterilised and eventually put into large baskets and placed back into the ocean.
The project’s goal is to restore 19.4 hectares of Moreton Bay reef, which is essential to the local ecosystems and environment.
According to OzFish, each restored hectare of native oyster reef can filter 2.7 billion litres of seawater, removing 225kg of nitrogen and phosphate and producing an additional 2.5 tonnes of harvestable fish every year, as well as diverting tonnes of used shells from landfill.
“Our customers love oysters, and being located on Moreton Bay means we can obtain the freshest quality seafood for them,” said Queensland regional manager of Lewis Land Group Chris Allison.
“Since promoting the restoration project in the venue, we’ve definitely seen a spike in half-dozen oyster orders on bills. It looks like the people of the Redcliffe-Bayside area are really keen to help.”
One of the Lewis Land Group’s core priorities is ensuring local communities and environments are front of mind.
“We’re always on the lookout for local projects and ways we can get involved with the community, so partnering with OzFish on this is exciting for us,” Allison said.