The team collected adult sponges 12 miles and 80 meters deep offshore in Apollo Bay, Victoria.

Using methods borrowed from coral restoration, over 100 different species of deepwater sponges have been reproduced in the SeaGen Aquaculture hatchery on Phillip Island.

Deakin School of Life and Environmental Sciences Professor Dan Ierodiaconou and Dr Mary Young and the research team are tasked with the ongoing monitoring of the project.

‘Deakin University is proud to be leading the monitoring program that will leverage advances in seafloor mapping technologies to monitor biodiversity change across these reef systems through time,’ said Professor Ierodiaconou. ‘It is also in the depths we tend to deploy marine infrastructure.

We have been monitoring reef systems in Bass Strait for over two decades, providing important context to this experiment. The research will also go some way in informing what we can do in nature-based design when designing future marine infrastructure or decommissioning assets that reach end of life, such as those we are seeing in Bass Strait related to oil and gas.’

Dr Chris Gillies CEO

CEO of Offshore Biotechnologies Dr Chris Gillies said:

‘Sponges are remarkable animals that have been hiding in plain sight. They’ve been around since before dinosaurs and have evolved complex relationships with microorganisms.

This makes them a valuable source of medical compounds. Many of these compounds are now saving millions of lives as cancer and anti-viral drugs. Yet most people are unaware of sponges or the important role they play in our oceans.’

In the deep sea, sponges take over from light-dependent seaweeds and corals as the dominant habitat formers.

Sponge gardens support Australia’s most valuable fishery, rock lobsters, as well as many other commercial fish species. They play a big role in ocean nutrient cycling and water filtration. 

In cold waters around southern Australia, sponges grow slowly and rely on stable conditions for decades, even centuries, to establish complex habitats rich in marine life.

‘What’s been a relatively undisturbed environment until now is about to get a major shake-up,’ said Dr Gillies.

‘Offshore wind and the decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure in places like Gippsland and the Otways have the potential to cause immense damage to deep sea sponges. We urgently need to accelerate methods to restore sponge communities and develop new technologies to make offshore energy Nature Positive. 

Luckily, many sponge species respond well to reproduction by fragmentation and a single sponge can be split up into more than 50 individual clones.’

The next stage of the project involves redeploying the cultivated sponges onto artificial reefs in the Apollo Marine Park as part of a larger research project investigating ways to restore sponge communities and develop technologies to make offshore energy projects nature friendly.

Deployed to the seafloor will be 120 tonne of limestone rubble, eight reefs made from recycled shells sourced from restaurants, and 64 concrete mats made with a modified concrete recipe to attract marine life.

Deakin’s team of researchers will then monitor the reefs using underwater drones that collect videos and photos and track the recovery of marine life over the duration of the project.

‘While reef restoration is commonplace in shallow water systems, it is rare to find examples like this in deeper “mesophotic depths” where sponge dominated communities thrive on reef structures,’ said Professor Ierodiaconou. ‘By using underwater drones to collect images, we will be able to track the changes taking place.’

The research is a collaboration between Deakin University, Offshore Biotechnologies, SeaGen Aquaculture, Parks Australia, The Nature Conservancy, Amplitude Energy, VRFish and Polaris Marine, with funding provided by Parks Australia’s Ocean Discovery and Restoration Program.

‘We don’t want another marine ecosystem to become imperiled at the cost of energy security,’ said Dr Gillies. ‘That’s why it’s imperative to get ahead of the game and develop methods for deep sea restoration and enhancement well before the next offshore energy boom starts.’ 

Background

Offshore Biotechnologies is a Gippsland-based biotech company that develops technologies to restore and enhance marine ecosystems and improve sustainable fisheries. The business was founded by Dr Chris Gillies, a marine biologist and conservationist, who has over 20 years’ experience restoring marine ecosystems and developing nature-based solutions for the blue economy.

SeaGen Aquaculture is a multispecies marine hatchery based on Phillip Island, Victoria. SeaGen Aquaculture undertakes commercial production of shellfish and seaweeds for local and interstate farmers in addition to research, development and commercialisation of new species for aquaculture.

The Ocean Discovery and Restoration Program is a $15 million initiative of the Australian Government to create partnerships between Parks Australia and the private, philanthropic and science sectors to deliver ocean discovery and restoration initiatives across the Commonwealth Australian Marine Park estate.