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Saltwater Habitat Enhancement: Artificial Reefs |
IntroductionThe FWC's Division of Marine Fisheries Management, Marine Fisheries Management Section administers a state artificial reef program that was legislatively created under s. 370.25 Florida Statutes in 1982. The program was transferred to the Commission from the Department of Environmental Protection on July 1, 1999. The primary program objectives are to provide financial and technical assistance to coastal local governments, nonprofit corporations, and state universities to develop artificial reefs and to monitor and evaluate these reefs. Under the program, reefs have been constructed with one or more of the following intended objectives: 1) enhance private recreational and charter fishing and diving opportunities; 2) provide a socio-economic benefit to local coastal communities; 3) increase reef fish habitat; 4) reduce user conflicts; 5) facilitate reef related research; and, 6) while accomplishing objectives 1-5, do no harm to fishery resources, Essential Fish Habitat (EFH), or human health. Other reef building objectives undertaken in Florida but outside this agency include mitigation or restoration reefs to replace hard bottom habitat lost through such activities as beach re-nourishment, repair of reef system damage caused by vessel groundings, provide substrate for the regeneration of oyster reefs and protection of re-planted vegetated shorelines vulnerable to erosion from wave activity. Florida has one of the most active artificial reef programs among the 14 Gulf and Atlantic states involved in this activity. The Florida artificial reef program is the only state program besides Maryland that is not exclusively run at a state agency level where the state holds all the reef area permits. Because of the extent of coastline and statewide involvement in reef activities, the FWC program continues as a cooperative partnership started 25 years ago with local coastal county governments. Today some local coastal cities, universities, and qualified non-profit corporations also work directly with the FWC in artificial reef development and monitoring activities. Thirty-four of 35 Florida coastal counties spread along 8,426 miles of tidal coastline (1,200 miles fronting the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean) are or have been involved in artificial reef development. Dating back to 1920, as of August 2007, more than 2,400 documented public artificial reefs have been placed in state and federal waters off these counties. Most of the reef development has taken place in the last 20 years. Local coastal governments hold all but one of the more than 300 active artificial reef permits off both Florida coasts. About half of these sites are in federal waters. Fishing clubs, non profit corporations, and interested private individuals work through the local governments as the liable permit holders to provide input into public reef building activity. Program GoalsOn November 21, 2003 the FWC adopted a state artificial reef strategic plan developed by an advisory board of interested stakeholders. The plan has six general goals:
Program FundingArtificial reef development in Florida only began with any regularity in the late 1970's when more state funded and sponsored projects were conducted and more dependable funding sources began to be established. However, consistent annual reef funding at the state level was unavailable until 1986. Today, approximately 70-100 public artificial reefs are constructed annually off Florida using a combination of federal, state, local government and private funds. Approximately 40%-75% of the money used annually from all sources for artificial reef related development in Florida annually is administered through the FWC artificial reef program. From 1996 through 2005, the construction and monitoring project component of the state artificial reef program was level funded with $300,000 in Federal Aid and $300,000 in State Saltwater Fishing License revenues. In 2006, the state artificial reef program funding was increased by an additional $100,000 in Federal Aid, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for a combined total of $700,000 in Federal and State funds available for artificial reef projects state-wide. In 2007 the state reef program was again appropriated $400,000 in Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration from the USFWS that was augmented with $300,000 in state saltwater license revenues from the Marine Resource Conservation Trust Fund. The FWC artificial reef program administers grants-in-aid pass through funding derived from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Program and state salt water fishing license revenues. The money is used to reimburse local government and nonprofit participants for funding transportation and deployment of reef material, construction of modular reef units, reef monitoring, pre-deployment site assessments, and special projects, such as planning (socio-economic studies) and research. Depending on the year approximately 70-80% of the grant project funding goes to artificial reef construction with the remainder utilized for monitoring, research, or other reef planning oriented projects. The selection process for construction and monitoring projects is competitive. Over the last 28 years, the State of Florida has distributed more than $17,593,888 for artificial reef related activities. From 1979 through fiscal year 2006-2007 Florida's artificial reef program provided at least $13,219,608 in state and federal funding to local coastal governments for public reef construction projects. Another $3,289,259 has gone towards statewide artificial reef research projects, $708,021, towards reef monitoring, and $377,000 towards four regional reef socioeconomic studies. Research and monitoring projects have included studies on reef spacing and design, material stability, storm impacts, long-term studies of reef community succession, residency of benthic species on artificial reefs, juvenile fish recruitment, comparison of artificial reef fish communities with those on adjacent natural reefs, and the impacts of directed fishing mortality on artificial reef biomass and species diversity. A 2001 special legislative appropriation of $550,000 (in addition to the 2001-02 regular $600,000 appropriation) funded a low profile unpublished patch reef project consisting of over 500 patch reefs utilizing three different material designs. These units were deployed in permitted large areas in federal waters off Northwest Florida in the winter and spring of 2003. Some of these units continue to be used in ongoing research projects. In 2005 the program received an additional $250,000 appropriation to support monitoring of nearshore natural and artificial reefs on the east coast using both conventional sampling and DIDSON sonar. During 2006-07 FWC received a $1,250,000 grant from the U.S. Maritime Administration to assist the City of Key West with partial financing of the preparation of the military vessel General Hoyt Vandenberg to be placed as an artificial reef off Key West in 2008. During the current 2007-2008 fiscal year FWC is providing $700,000 in funding for reef construction projects off five counties (61 patch reefs) as well as four monitoring projects, one ongoing research project, and one ongoing (year two of two) multi-county Southwest Florida socioeconomic benefits of artificial reef study. Participants in this fiscal year's reef grants in aid program activities include nine county governments, the West Coast Inland Navigation District, and two universities. Projects cover the following county areas: Flagler, St. Lucie, Martin, Miami-Dade, Escambia, Taylor, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Sarasota, Lee, and Charlotte Counties. The 2007-2008 fiscal year individual projects range in cost from $10,399-$40,000 (research and monitoring), from $54,000 to $256,000 (reef construction), and $100,000 (regional socio economic study). The 2007-2008 reef construction projects will include a mix of fabricated concrete modules, and pre-cast secondary use concrete materials. Program PersonnelFrom 1991 through fiscal year 2006-07 state reef program Tallahassee based staff consisted of an Environmental Administrator working 3/4 time on artificial reef issues and 50% federally funded, and two Fishery Management Biologists funded with state fishing license dollars. In fiscal year 2007-08, the salaries of the two Fishery Biologists will be 100% funded under a Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Grant applied for annually. FWC artificial reef program staff provides technical assistance to local coastal governments, and state and federal regulatory agencies. Staff disseminates artificial reef related information to all of these entities and assists the general public by answering questions related to artificial reefs. Staff carries out a legislative requirement of maintaining a statewide public artificial reef database (on the FWC marine web site) and remains in contact with other state artificial reef program managers. In addition to administrative duties, staff conducts statewide compliance and performance monitoring of grant funded reef projects using SCUBA. The section's assessment dive team conducts fish censuses, mapping, video, photography, and materials evaluation. Staff may also inspect materials proposed for deployment, or monitor actual deployments. Other monitoring techniques such as sidescan sonar have been used on a contractual pilot study basis. In the course of over 150 staff fish censuses taken statewide at depths from 10-140 feet since 1992, 220 species of fish have been identified on Florida artificial reefs. The top five fish species most likely to be seen on artificial reefs during those censuses were 1) tomtate (grunt); 2) gag (grouper); 3) gray snapper 4) white grunt and, 5) gray triggerfish. Fish noted in the greatest densities when they occurred were 1) scads (cigar minnows); 2) clupeids (herrings); 3) tomtate (grunt) and, 4) vermilion snapper (beeliners). Approximately $50,000/yr is received through the USFWS under an artificial reef grant to support reef staff field monitoring operations, and other operating costs. Artificial Reef Program StakeholdersArtificial reef stakeholders in Florida include users, interested parties, and those entities impacted by reef development activities. Stake holders include recreational anglers and associated businesses, federal, state, and local governments, tourism and economic development interests, recreational and commercial SCUBA divers, commercial hook and line and trawl fishermen, academia, volunteer reef research and monitoring groups, artificial reef module manufacturers, marine contractors, environmental organizations and the media. PermittingThe FWC artificial reef program does not issue permits for artificial reef sites. This regulatory responsibility is carried out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) for proposed artificial reef areas in federal waters, and by both the ACOE and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in state waters. Both of these regulatory agencies accept comments from FWC and other interested parties during the artificial reef application review process. Due to liability issues, associated with siting and placing materials on the sea floor, permits are not issued permits directly to private individuals or clubs for building artificial reefs. The local coastal governments who are applicants for new reef sites undergo a rigorous individual permit application process that may span a 6-9 month period. A review of all of Florida's permitted artificial reef sites on record, permitted between the late 1960s and early 2006, identified 448 unique permitted artificial reef areas, covering a total of 664.13 nm2. Of the 448 sites permitted to date, approximately 300 are currently active. The average size of the 448 permit polygons is 1.48 nm2. The smallest permit polygon is 1.06 x 10-6 nm2 (48.44 ft2), and the largest permit polygon is 98.09 nm2. 90% of the permit polygons fall between the sizes of 1.06 x 10-6 nm2 (48.44 ft2) and 1.69 nm2. The wide range of permit sizes is a result of 8 large area artificial reef sites (LAARS) located in the Panhandle and Florida Big Bend (off Escambia, Okaloosa, Bay, and Taylor counties). Each of the LAARS encompasses significantly more area (60.87 nm2) than the average of all other permitted sites in Florida (0.39 nm2). The 8 LAARS account for 73% of Florida's total permitted artificial reef area. As a result, the Gulf coast of Florida includes more total permitted area than the Atlantic coast of Florida (539.38 nm2 and 124.74 nm2, respectively). Reef Materials UseAllowable materials for artificial reef use are determined by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) and Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) permit criteria and tend to emphasize heavy, stable, durable and non-polluting materials. These criteria are based upon requirements for the use of non-hazardous material of sufficient stability and durability to insure that the materials and their component parts remain within permitted areas and last long enough to provide the intended habitat enhancement. These criteria are based upon direction provided by the National Artificial Reef Plan, developed under the Secretary of Commerce by direction of the National Fishing Enhancement Act of 1984 and by the Environmental Protection Agency based upon federal and international law. Also, guidance is provided by the Guidelines for Marine Artificial Reef Materials, Second Edition (2004) produced by the Gulf and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commissions, a copy of which can be found online at www.gsmfc.org/pubs/SFRP/Guidelines_for_Marine_Artificial_Reef_Materials_January_2004.pdf DEP has specific materials limitations for artificial reef use in state waters. Under DEP state general artificial reef rules, for example, in state waters of peninsular Florida (62-341.600 F.A.C.) materials are limited to clean concrete or rock, clean steel boat hulls, other clean, heavy gauge steel products with a thickness of 1/4 inch or greater and prefabricated structures that are a mixture of clean concrete and heavy gauge steel. In state waters in the Florida Panhandle (62-312.807 F.A.C.), allowable materials under the general permit are limited to clean concrete materials, rock, or steel boat hulls. An assessment of material types used in 709 publicly funded Florida artificial reef deployments (all funding sources) from 1994-2000 showed that secondary use concrete materials dominate (43%) followed by concrete modules (24%), military equipment- mainly armored combat tanks (11%), steel vessels and barges (11%), scrap steel (6%), limestone (3%) and miscellaneous materials (2%). In the last several years there has been increasing use of designed modules. Though more expensive they can be more effectively placed, be designed to resist major storm events, target specific species or life history stages, and can serve as standardized units for follow-up monitoring or research. Additional InformationFor more information on Florida's Artificial Reef Program, please contact: Jon Dodrill, Environmental Administrator |
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