Oysters to help restore SA reef

More than 50,000 oysters have been given a new home in South Australia as part of Australia's largest reef restoration project.

The native Australian flat oysters were introduced to Windara Reef, in SA's Gulf St Vincent, on Friday.

Led by the Nature Conservancy, the project aims to build a self-sustainable reef.

The goal is to increase the number of juvenile oysters to more than seven million.

A second deployment is expected later this year.

Environment minister David Speirs said the project would restore an important marine reef ecosystem.

"This project will result in economic and social benefit to the nearby communities of Yorke Peninsula," said Minister Speirs.

"It will create new jobs, particularly tourism associated with recreation and fishing, as well as new volunteering and community education programs."

The baby oysters are currently about eight months old and are roughly the size of a 50 cent piece.

They'll begin to produce offspring when they are three years old.

The oysters were donated by Primary Industries and the South Australian Research and Development Institute.

Windara Reef consists of 150 artificial reefs across 20ha.