Fish Hotels to boost tourism at Wyndham Estate
An innovative approach to the environment will be championed by one of Australia’s oldest vineyards.
Under a NSW Government Grant the Hunter’s iconic Wyndham Estate, in partnership with Rio Tinto, will re-establish native fish habitat by creating ‘engineered log jams’, also known as ‘fish hotels’.
Wyndham Estate is the only Lower Hunter winery to sit on the Hunter River. The vineyard sits along about 1.5 kilometres of the River at Dalwood.
The fish hotels will be built with logs from trees cleared from mining operations at Mount Thorley coal mine as well as root balls donated by the Hunter Expressway Alliance. The manmade structures recreate the underwater root habitat of River Red Gums. The logs used have a surface that supports algae and thousands of tiny creatures that form the diet of young fish. The habitat gives young fish the chance to survive and grow into adults, and during floods, mature fish may be dispersed along the river.
Wyndham Estate Manager, Stephen Guilbaud-Oulton, said the project was an integral part of the vineyard's commitment to its environment.
‘Wyndham Estate is well positioned to support this type of project. Work has already begun to replant native flora along the River and our agricultural skills allow our local team to help improve and maintain the overall health of the River and its surrounding land,’ he said. ‘This is an important part of the way we work in our community and complements our work in preserving and recording the rich heritage of this important wine making estate,’ he said.
Wyndham Estate attracts about 40,000 visitors per year. The winery won the best Tourism Winery at the 2011 NSW Tourism Awards and recently took out the ‘Best Major Wine Producer’ in the Drinks International Wine Tourism Awards.
For further information, images or interviews; please contact Stephen Guilbaud-Oulton on 4938 3444.