A REVOLUTIONARY new mooring system developed and manufactured in Port Stephens is taking the boating industry by storm.
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Seagrass Friendly Moorings are the brainchild of Williamtown businessman Des Maslen, who operates the successful On Water Marine Services business.
"The system was developed a few years ago and to date we have approximately 350 of these mooring systems being used from Moreton Bay to Port Phillip Bay, including around 180 in Port Stephens alone," he said.
"This system is environmentally friendly and it takes corrosive moorings out of the equation."
Mr Maslen said the business, which, in 2013, was awarded the Healthy Waterways Product and Manufacturing trophy, had recently completed one of the largest seagrass recovery projects in Australia on the Gold Coast.
"Seagrass is a vital component of the marine eco system but vessel owners with traditional dump weight and chain moorings don't allow for both to co-exist," Mr Maslen said.
"Our mooring system uses a single post which is screwed into the ground as the anchor point."
Attached to the mooring post just below the sea bed is a set of load spreaders to stabilise the post.
"We then attach our shock absorber to the swivel head and run a hawser rope from the shock absorber to a surface buoy."
The mooring is available in three sizes as well as as a mooring point only.