MBARA, Mexico Beach Receive State Grant for more Reefs

Two hundred and counting and the numbers start piling up.

Having already deployed some 200 artificial reefs in the Gulf of Mexico, the city of Mexico Beach has received an $80,000 grant which will be used for adding more reefs through its partnership with the non-profit Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association (MBARA).

The money will come from the Florida Artificial Reef Program administered by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Division of Fisheries Management.

The grant is funded by money generated by saltwater fishing license revenues and from the Sport Fish Restoration program.

"This is significant money," said Ron Childs, president of MBARA. "We are excited about it. This will probably mean 15 to 20 new reefs.

"We are especially excited about this grant because the MBARA has developed a new reef design for grouper that we are going to build and monitor for its efficiency. It is new and different - it is built like a cave to simulate natural rock bottom. There has never been anything like it."

The new reef was designed by Keith Neel of Port St. Joe for MBARA.

The additional reefs continue what Childs called "a labor of love" in creating new fishing habitat in the Gulf of Mexico permit areas in which MBARA works.

A study of such efforts highlights that such artificial reefs lure anglers, and billions of dollars, to the state of Florida.

"We are so proud to be able to get this grant which will allow for many more reefs to be built in the Gulf of Mexico off of our shores," said Mexico Beach city administrator Chris Hubbard. "This will help our tourism and fishing industry which is a vital part of our overall economy."

Hubbard added that the city worked with MBARA on the grant application, expressing pride in the partnership and noting that "this allows our city to benefit without any cost to the citizens."

Childs added that the grant funds come at a particularly opportune time for the non-profit MBARA

"You just don't build reefs," Childs said. "You are responsible for them."

And with some 200 in the waters off Mexico Beach, that in itself is a full-time occupation.

MBARA must monitor, maintain, manage and evaluate each reef or cluster of reefs, assessing the growth of natural habitat, the diversity of species calling a reef home, counting fish, assessing how the reef is holding up in the sea water conditions and maintaining the reefs in as pristine a condition as possible.

"That's probably the biggest, the most time-consuming, thing we do," Childs said. "It's becoming an incredibly important part of what we do."

The new state grant underscores that importance, Childs added.

The vast amount of information that MBARA members have catalogued concerning all the reefs in its permits areas provides a solid foundation for the newly-received grant and additional future grants, Childs noted.