Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association www.mbara.org
Photos by Carol and Bob Cox
Who doesn’t like a good reefer?! Or even better, a whole collection of them? There’s a good sized group of reefers in Mexico Beach, FL that everyone should know about. They’re the Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association (MBARA) and they’re busy building artificial reefs to beef up the fish population.
Since the organization was formed in 1997, it has deployed over 150 reefs off the coast of Mexico Beach in northwest Florida. The cost of the deployed reefs is over $1 million. Not bad for a non-profit, all volunteer group. Yes, all volunteer. Nobody gets paid. And there’s a lot more to reef building than you think.
The MBARA not only has to locate an acceptable location for each new reef and get a permit, it also has to figure out what kind of design and material will enhance the reef’s growth. And since they obtain grant money from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, among others, they must inspect, monitor and report on the reefs after deployment.
And these aren’t your father’s artificial reefs, either. Although they still use some traditional reef materials, like old boats, they also use cutting edge technology. According to Reef Chiefs Carol and Bob Cox (so dubbed because they are both retired chief master sergeants from the Air Force), they are using some modern artificial reefs that are built to order. Carol says that their surveys of reefs help them create new, more effective designs. “A lot of the information we gather is used to determine new reef designs, to determine the stability and what kind of fish are attracted to the different structures. We want to find out what works. There have been failures in the past, like car tires, that we found out don’t work too good.”
One of their new reef designs is called an Ecosystem reef, which is a stack of discs that are embedded with limestone. Native Florida limestone is added to the structure because MBARA found out that creatures that help build up a reef, like sea whips, worms and corals, attach and grow faster to it. “Limestone is made from the sea bottom and has the same PH as the seawater so it’s better for the marine life,” explained Carol. “We just put the Ecosystems down and it was amazing how quickly they started attracting sea life. Florida Fish and Wildlife divers inspected one of the new units, and besides having a lot of juvenile snappers and groupers, it was loaded with black sea bass. They said they had never seen that many black sea bass in one place. We used to never see black sea bass around here but now we’re seeing quite a lot on the dives due to the structures we’ve put down. Fishermen are talking about it, too, saying they’re catching black sea bass like they’ve never caught before in our area. They’re a good eating fish. It makes them happy, especially when red snapper season is so short.”
Another reef design is the ARI which is a pyramid shaped structure, eight to ten feet high, embedded with Florida limestone. They are designed to sit with their base on the sea floor.
The MBARA also uses a reef design called a grouper module, which is a concrete rectangular structure that has either slits or holes in it for the fish to go in and out. This is intended to simulate natural reef ledges that grouper like to use as a habitat.
“We try to build what we think the fish is going to like, but it doesn’t always work out that way,” laughed Carol. “The ARI pyramid shapes are open on the bottom. In a few places, some of those were knocked over on their side when they were deployed, so the big opening is now like a cave. We found that the majority of fish gravitate to the ones that are knocked over. You go up to one and there will be ten triggerfish staring out at you. You never know what’s going to attract the most fish, so we play around and experiment with it.”
To qualify for grant money, the MBARA has to raise matching funds. Therefore the group has fundraisers. They sell memberships, reef charts, cookbooks, GPS cards with reef info, T-shirts and naming rights. Yes, just like sports stadiums, you can name a reef. You can even purchase a Memorial Reef that contains your dearly departed’s ashes. Nice way to remember an avid fishermen or sailor, and it comes with an underwater plaque. These are popular, with 37 named Memorial Reefs already having been deployed. Corporation have also sponsored reefs and get the naming rights.
The largest fundraiser is the annual Kingfish Tournament, which will take place this year on Saturday, August 27, 2011 at Mexico Beach Marina. Pre-registration is available online at their website. The tournament director is Dr. Ron Childs, who is also one of the founding directors of MBARA.
The MBARA has a whirlwind of activity going on at all times. How an all volunteer group gets so much done is amazing. This is certainly a group any of us can get behind and support. You can join and donate to the MBARA online. Doing so will let you proudly proclaim that you, too, are a reefer.
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