Charter captains, retail owners unite for artificial reefs

 
New restrictions on artificial reefs would make it impossible for the Panhandle fishing industry to build private reefs, Capt. Mike Eller says - and that, he believes, is the reason behind the rule.
"It's going to take the average Joe Fisherman reef-builder out of the equation," Eller said at a Tuesday night meeting with Kris Tandy, the regional representative for Sen. Mel Martinez. "They've never been happy with the private reef program."
"They" is the Jacksonville office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which wants to ban steel less than a half-inch thick from being used in artificial reefs. That would rule out the "chicken transfer cages" local fishermen use to build reefs, because the steel is only one eighth of an inch thick.
"This requirement will effectively kill artificial reef building," Candy Hansard of the local Emerald Coast Reef Association said. "It will also drive up the cost of publicly funded reefs, even if the government can find vessels that meet the requirement."
Hansard said the Gulf needs reefs because the flat, sandy floor around the Emerald Coast is a "wet desert" that offers nowhere for fish to take shelter. New reefs, she said, improve the habitat, boost the fish population and eventually develop into thriving marine communities.
Bait and tackle stores, scuba-equipment suppliers and charter captains told Tandy how devastating the new rule would be to their business, particularly on top of recent rulings restricting the red snapper season.
Charter Captain and Destin City Councilor Kelly Windes said with fuel costs going up, artificial reefs saved money because boats could steer straight to a reef to fish instead of scouring the Gulf. Windes said the chicken cages had proven themselves sturdy and durable enough there was no need to toughen the requirement.
"If the thickness goes to a half-inch, it kills the goose that lays the golden eggs," Windes said. "We're done in the reef business."
Several speakers said customers were already looking at Texas and Alabama as better states to go fishing, and the loss of private reefs would make it worse.Hansard said that Alabama has 1,260 square miles available for reef building, but Jacksonville has only approved 465 square miles off the Northwest Florida coast.
Tandy said the Corps needed more transparency in its policy making, and said  he'd bring that up with the Corps himself before talking to Martinez. He said it was important to move fast because once the new regulation was in place, it would be hard for Martinez to do much: "There's 98 senators who aren't interested."