MEXICO BEACH — A local organization continues to expand its environmental reach.
The U.S. Corps of Army Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection recently awarded the Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association (MBARA) permits to expand its reef-building operation into two new sites. With a two-year application process behind it, the MBARA can now move into the planning stages to deploy new reefs to the Crooked Island and Sherman sites in 2017.
Each site is located in state waters off Mexico Beach and consists of about 3 square nautical miles. The depths of the Crooked Island site ranges from 60 to 75 feet, while the Sherman site has a depth of 76 to 81 feet deep.
“With the changing fishing regulations and federal waters more restricted than they have been in the past, the community is looking to do more fishing in state waters where those restrictions aren’t as strict,” MBARA president Bob Cox said. “We’re expanding what we have and the direction we’re going.”
Cox said that because the new sites are deeper, future reefs will attract fish like red snapper, not found in the popular Bell Shoals site.
Crooked Island and Sherman will attract fisherman looking to hook bigger game. “The deeper we go, that’s where we find the bigger fish,” Cox said.
A grant application submitted to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), a regular supporter of the MBARA, would help launch the project if approved.
Meanwhile, the MBARA soon will begin expansion at the Bell Shoals site, which encompasses 3 nautical miles and is home to the popular John Thompson Memorial reef.
In the planning stages since 2010, the organization is set to receive between $1.2 million and $1.4 million of the $11.4 million earmarked by the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) phase three plan, which was funded earlier in the year from BP fine monies stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The MBARA is currently in the project agreement development stage with both the FWC and the city of Mexico Beach, but according to Cox, things are looking good and he expects to move to the contracting phase soon.
Before applying for the NRDA funds, the organization was advised that projects of a greater multi-use would be more likely to be accepted and funded. The Bell Shoals site, which averages a depth of 20 feet, was a shoe-in.
“Bell Shoals is shallow and can be enjoyed by fishers, snorkelers and boaters,” Cox said. “It’s a great place for novice divers and water activities. It just about serves everyone.”
The established reefs in the area attract cobia fishermen and acts as a nursery for juvenile fish, including grey triggerfish, gray snapper, red and gag grouper and flounder.
Cox said giving juvenile fish a safe place to mature and taking care of fish “from cradle to the grave” is an important step in the conservation process. Though the waters off Mexico Beach contain few natural reefs, Cox stressed the MBARA’s artificial structures take some of the pressure off, allowing natural reefs to survive longer.
While the new sites set the MBARA up for future expansion, the announcement comes on the heels of a big start to 2015. April saw the deployment of 16 new super reefs, made up of 42 prefabricated steel, concrete and limestone structures. These reefs, consisting of six different designs and sizes, were created to attract fish that hunt higher in the water column.
Cox said the NRDA funding may allow for another deployment of reefs to happen later in the year. The Bell Shoals site will be expanded with 54 reefs, each 6 to 8 feet in height.
Since the organization’s inception in 1997, more than $2 million has been spent launching reefs in the waters off Mexico Beach to promote fishing and ecotourism. With another million soon to be added, the organization is well on its way to Cox’s goal of building 1,000 reefs.
“It’s a bad thing that the Deepwater Horizon accident occurred, but there are good things coming out of it,” Cox said. “The NRDA funding is one of those things. We’re going to take it and put it good use and it’s going to help the economy by making (Bell Shoals) a great place to visit.”
Learn more about the MBARA online at www.mbara.org