It’s official – A new Artificial Reef off St. Augustine, Florida!

July and August, 2010 have been productive months for Carl Blow of the St. Johns County Port, Waterway, and Beach District Commissioner, St. Augustine, Florida. One of Carls roles is in Artificial construction. Carl and the Ancient City Game Fish Association was instrumental in procuring the neccessary approvals and coordination of resources to successfully place 700 tons pilings, once used to guide vessles under the temporary bridge built, while the Bridge of Lions was being refurbished to its original state. Those pilings were pulled from service, placed on a barge, cut in half, towed approx. 7 miles off short St. Augustine as St. Johns county’s sees it’s newest artificial reef.

Here is a small video made July 2010 of the material being pulled and placed on a barge:

[xr_video id=”cc2c5f0a1ba74f25a8180215200c0744″ size=”sm”]

The new site named Andy King Reef may be found at the following coordinants:

29*52.5914 N
81*09.2067 W

The amount of time and effort to build an artificial reef usually goes unseen. The concept for this reef began over four years ago. Acquiring funding, volunteers, meeting all environmnetal concerns, placement location, monitoring, purpose, etc. All of the pieces need to come together at the moment you need them. Fishing Clubs are organizations which provide resources, the collective experiences of their members.

The Bridge of Lions contractor, Skanska, donated leftover materials from the destruction of the temporary bridge for the new reef. yet will cost about $77,000 to transport the concrete from the bridge to the permitted site, 7 miles off St. Augustines shore. The cost will be shared by St. johns Country Port, Waterway and Beach District, St. Johns County Parks and Recreation and the Ancient City Game Fish Association. $12,000 will come from the county’s reef budget, the Game Fish Association donated $20,000 with the remainder coming from the Port District.

Clubs and Organizations: Fishing clubs provide recommendations for locations, reasons for those locations, what is to be gained, donations, and much more. Other organizations such as the Jacksonville Reef Research Team provide specialist in reef monitoring. Organizations like TISIRI provide coordinators who act as the central point of contact for all parties involved. TISIRI interfaces with Government officials, Clubs, Contractors, Organizations, media, and volunteers acting as the reef contruction coordinator for all the parties involved.

 Everyone wins when a successful artifical reef is placed. Fishermen and women,  fish, bait and tackle shops, restaurants, boating and equipment rentals, scuba shops and their divers and of course, the marine life.

TISIRI divers visited the site August 27 and report the new reef is occupied with an abundant population of trigger fish, eager to nip at ears, fingers or almost anything when you’re not looking.
Here is the video from that days dive, Andy King Reef Video .

Congratulations to all on a successfully placement.

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