Artificial reef and fish aggregating devices

The Northern Territory Government is investing $50 million over five years to improve recreational fishing opportunities.

As part of this commitment, a scoping study was undertaken to investigate the potential of artificial reefs and fish aggregating devices to aid in the recovery of at risk reef fish.

A survey was conducted in early-2018 to obtain community input to complement the biological and technical information in the scoping study. Results have been collated and analysed and are available from the Design and Site Selection for Artificial Reefs and FADS final report PDF (20.0 MB).

Four artificial reefs have been built and were deployed in Top End waters in September 2019.

The artificial reefs are located in the Greater Darwin region, two are between North Gutter and Lee Point, one in the Dundee region and one between the Vernon Islands and Cape Hotham.

Land-based anglers can access the 15 additional smaller artificial reefs that have been deployed in front of the fishing platform at Stokes Hill Wharf.

For more information read the Northern Territory Artificial Reefs Fact File PDF (280.9 KB) | Northern Territory Artificial Reefs Fact File DOCX (859.8 KB)

A Fishing Aggregating Device (FAD) trial is now underway with some encouraging results.

For more information and locations of the FADs visit the Northern Territory Government website.


Give feedback about this page.

Share this page:

URL copied!