Old news for some…
It makes so much sense and doesn’t happen enough, though a couple of good times this year already. Every big piece of environmentally stable junk should be stacked up in designated spots across the coast at different depths to target different species.
Other than the tires from a tire reef rolling down the ocean floor after they come loose, I wonder what credible resistance could exist for this kind of thing.
It’s like the crazy neighbor lady putting cat food on the front porch. You go from sustaining 1 or 2 stray cats to 10… maybe that’s not the best example, but you know what I mean.
BG
Im always happy to see more artificial reef …but we need to see some shrimp boats and bigger stuff dumped in the 110-140 ft depth where the currently isn’t anything. It such a productive depth year round it only makes sense
I think we would all agree that artificial reefs are a good thing, but the next question is who is going to pay for it.
Sea Hunt 207CC,Yam F150
Carolina Skiff (old school model)17’ Suz D50
a lot of the funding is provided by private groups, volunteers help do the work, scuba shops for instance, Mel Bell of DNR and others were pioneers of the work, they are rolling em out as fast as the current state gov can sustain, no lack of material. For instance, you may see some old Folly Rd bridges out there soon. Just so you know, I’ve been scuba diving off SC for a long time and these artificial reefs are freeking AWESOME… a lot of good healthy meat fish hang out on these as do the rest of the food chain.
quote:It's money. Each deployment costs on average of about $20K-$25K from what I remember. They usually pay a towing company (Stevens Towing) to do these deployments. If I recall, their budget was enough to do like 12-15 deployments each year. Also, they have issues with the Army Corps of Engineers who basically confine them to dump these materials into existing permitted reef areas.
Originally posted by btodagIt makes so much sense and doesn’t happen enough, though a couple of good times this year already. Every big piece of environmentally stable junk should be stacked up in designated spots across the coast at different depths to target different species.
Other than the tires from a tire reef rolling down the ocean floor after they come loose, I wonder what credible resistance could exist for this kind of thing.
It’s like the crazy neighbor lady putting cat food on the front porch. You go from sustaining 1 or 2 stray cats to 10… maybe that’s not the best example, but you know what I mean.
BG
Just keep in mind. These reefs are not being deployed to increase the biomass of fish. They are deployed to give more fishermen opportunities to catch fish. Therefore they are biased towards well traveled routes and generally closer to shore. What is the distinction (it might seem subtle to you)? It’s the fact that 200K fishermen visit these 40+ reefs each year. That is a LOT of pressure.
What really needs to happen is they need to create several more secret reefs out there and NOT publish the coordinates, or just publish half of them . If they did that, the unpublished reefs would act as fish factories and the surrounding fish populations would benefit from it. If you find it you find it. If you don’t, you don’t.
quote:
Originally posted by skinneej[quote]Originally posted by btodag
What really needs to happen is they need to create several more secret reefs out there and NOT publish the coordinates, or just publish half of them . If they did that, the unpublished reefs would act as fish factories and the surrounding fish populations would benefit from it. If you find it you find it. If you don’t, you don’t.
Or just put more reefs in the MPA’s?
quote:
Originally posted by BluewaterbeauxOr just put more reefs in the MPA’s?
I don’t believe in MPA’s on the East Coast. Given the solution that I have provided, there is no reason to create MPA’s. The solution that I have provided is even better than MPA’s because it requires ZERO additional law enforcement. And it decreases overall fishing time\pressure as people spend more time looking for secret reefs…
An MPA is the answer given by people who don’t understand the problem to begin with.
What skineej said could work but eventually they would be found… something like that worked out in the Keys really well. We dove the Keys in the 80’s and there were few fish and bad coral areas. Then after they set up the sanctuaries (squared off regions with no access and heavily enforced) the spill over to the rest of the reefs was fantastic in only 10 years. It works but doing something like that in deep waters is tough to enforce. maybe.
thsts good news… hope it holds some decent fish sooner than later…
I figured there would be some good ol redneck boys, dumping cars out there for secret fishing spots. I’m sure it happens now and then.
1971 NEWPORT DAYSAILER 21’
1970 MAKO CC 22’
Breeze1 how are you gonna get cars out there secretly? You have something cool i don’t know about? could drive a monster truck out there though and pop the tires!! that would be neck
quote:They will eventually be found, sure, but only by a small group of people (which would be minimal fishing pressure). SCDNR has a couple secret reefs out there that are older than 10 years now. They have only been found by a few people, but still hold a plethora of fish compared to the public numbers. Typically when people find "the motherload", they aren't going to publicize it to the masses.
Originally posted by DillyDallyWhat skineej said could work but eventually they would be found… something like that worked out in the Keys really well. We dove the Keys in the 80’s and there were few fish and bad coral areas. Then after they set up the sanctuaries (squared off regions with no access and heavily enforced) the spill over to the rest of the reefs was fantastic in only 10 years. It works but doing something like that in deep waters is tough to enforce. maybe.
Note, I am not pulling ideas out of my ass here. This has already been proven in our waters. In addition, there have been other studies which dictate the same results.
SUWANEE - Suwannee Regional Reef System
http://taylor.ifas.ufl.edu/marine_suwannee.shtml
Steinhatchee Fisheries Management Area
http://taylor.ifas.ufl.edu/marine_sfma.shtml
^^^ one was dumped about 5 years ago^^^^^^ out near richmond/hector triangle but more north sat and waited for about an hr to getthe numbers ended up leaving before they sank it to this day i have not seen it on a chart or the date in any book/article…
i am sure it happens more than the published ones to be honest.
quote:Well, ive got an old 22' hull that floats. You could easily toss a compact car in it, chain it down. Drag it out there and shoot a few holes through the hull, sip a beer and watch it sink. Like i said, it might take a little redneck ingenuity. But it can be done!:sunglasses:
Originally posted by FishnBarrelsBreeze1 how are you gonna get cars out there secretly? You have something cool i don’t know about? could drive a monster truck out there though and pop the tires!! that would be neck
1971 NEWPORT DAYSAILER 21’
1970 MAKO CC 22’