Government & NGO’s
Sustainable Oceans International Pty Ltd recognises the role of government in protecting the marine environment for long-term sustainability. We believe there is a global shift where governments are increasingly requesting that primary and compensatory restoration be considered or included when important habitats such as reefs, mangroves or seagrass meadows are impacted by coastal development.
For example, in 2009-2010 we have been contacted regarding reef restoration projects connected to infrastructure projects in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jamaica, and Hawaii. We believe we are seeing a global move from the impact assessments and environmental management plans (EMP) that reduce impacts to plans that include additional actions in the form of restoration or compensation for ecological services lost.
Advances in technology and methods now make marine impact restoration and mitigation feasible in almost every situation. It is standard practice for terrestrial based industries like mining to rehabilitate their impacted sites and the trend is now moving to impacts below the waterline. Coastal development is currently not designed to maximize benefits below the waterline and this represents significant missed opportunity given the expense of construction.
The challenge for Governments and NGO’s (or the project consultants) is determining:
- What form of restoration is possible (technically, financially, ecologically)
- What should be done, and
- Who can do it ?
An additional challenge is presented by the fact that restoring or constructing effective reefs usually requires a range of products/technologies yet the majority of providers are committed to only one product/technology and this can increase costs, complicate contracts, cause delays and limit the effectiveness of restoration.
SOI has been established to specifically help infrastructure projects achieve ‘better design below the waterline’ and satisfy reef restoration or compensation demands.
SOI is the only company that provides a range of proven technologies for the task.
We have Team Members that have worked within Government and NGO’s, therefore we bring to projects an understanding of Government/NGO requirements.
How SOI can help you
We have demonstrated experience working with local, state and territory governments across Australia and internationally. Our consultants have decades of experience in marine science and can design innovative strategies to conserve reefs as close as possible to the former natural state.
We provide a comprehensive range of services, as well as:
- Independent advice of the feasibility and effectiveness of proposed reef restoration/compensation plans
- Preparation of reef restoration/compensation plans
- Coral relocation and propagation
- Coral reef restoration and/or enhancement
- Designed artificial reefs to compensate for loss of natural rocky outcrops or coral reefs, enhance fisheries (including recreational fishing reefs), enhance seawalls/breakwaters or jetties
- ‘Better design below the waterline’. Recommendations of how coastal infrastructure can be cost effectively designed to increase biodiversity or target species
- Marine impact monitoring and reporting
We look forward to working with you to achieve your marine conservation objectives; please contact us for more information or to arrange a consultation.
In the News
We have a winner!
Sustainable Ocean Innovation Award 2012
...and the award goes to...GhostNets Australia for their work in northern Australia tackling the serious problem of lost fishing nets called 'ghost nets'.
The group has found ghost nets measuring 10km long and recorded a myriad of marine species that get entangled as the nets drift along with the currents. The litany of marine casualties include turtles, dolphins, sharks, seabirds, crocodiles, rays and of course, multitudes of fish. The destruction caused by ghost nets continues as they near shore, often wrapping themselves around delicate coral reefs and coastal mangrove systems.
"The GhostNets Australia program is a fantastic example of innovation in action. Solving our environmental problems needs a healthy dose of lateral thinking in order to first see a solution and then brainstorm a way to make it happen" said David Lennon, director of Sustainable Oceans International.
>>Read the media release here: Sustainable Ocean Innovation Award 2012
878 trees to save Orang Utans
SOI through the fantastic giving portal Buy 1 Give 1 (www.b1g1.com) donates a percentage of every project to planting trees in Borneo for Orang Utan habitat.
We just purchased 100 more trees today as part of our Bahrain project with Reef Arabia. That makes 878 in total we've added to the planet rather than taken away from the planet.
Why not join us and include B1G1 in your business!
SOI constructs first 'cod house' to help save Murray cod
Murray cod are Australia's largest freshwater fish and overfishing and loss of essential habitat has decimated their numbers. SOI has been contracted to design and construct a concrete unit to help restore some of the essential breeding habitat the fish require. Sidescan image by ACT Government.
SOI wins 2 Year Contract - Bahrain
SOI and partner Reef Arabia have won a two year contract to design, build and monitor 10 artificial reefs around Bahrain.
>>Further details and photos of deployment of first reef in Bahrain
>>Bahrain newspaper article in Arabic
Four reefs have been deployed thus far. This is the first project of its kind to be constructed in the Arabian Gulf and the first to use custom reef units (designed by SOI) specifically for the local species.
SOI Completes Coral Mitigation Plan for New Doha Port
SOI conducted the necessary surveys and prepared the coral mitigation plans for the New Doha Port construction. This included accurate coral surveys to quantify the size, type and number of corals within the imperiled and threatened zones, and detailed recommendations on relocation methodology, relocation sites and compensatory artificial reefs to offset loss of productive reef structure.
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