Artificial Reefs Program

What is an artificial reef?

Artificial reefs are structures placed on the seafloor to enhance marine habitats and resources. They must adhere to strict design and placement criteria to ensure sustainable, environmentally friendly practices. Artificial reef structures include prefabricated concrete modules, 3D-printed concrete structures, secondary-use concrete, and steel vessels. Artificial reef structures must have a long life span (more than 20 years), be made of approved materials, be designed to maximize ecological function, have a minimum weight of 500 pounds, and be deployed to minimize disturbance to the seafloor and associated resources.

Benefits of artificial reefs

Artificial reefs can provide a multitude of economic and ecosystem services. They create jobs and income, generate economic activity and state revenue, and can be effective tools for enhancing or restoring fish communities. Artificial reefs can also help reduce fishing pressure on natural reefs and mitigate habitat loss by increasing structural complexity in the area. Structural complexity increases species abundance and diversity because structurally complex environments have more microhabitats and niches for organisms to forage, refuge, breed, and shelter. Artificial reefs can also be combined with biological restoration by attaching organisms such as sponges or corals to the structures to create 'hybrid reefs,' which may support higher levels of biodiversity. Biodiversity is essential for maintaining healthy, resilient, productive ecosystems.

Funding

Monroe County and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) were awarded $10 million from the state to start an artificial reef program in the Florida Keys. FWC and Monroe County intend to partner to develop a program to plan, construct, monitor, and maintain artificial reefs in Monroe County. Such benefits are in the public interest of the state of Florida, its resources, wildlife, and public welfare.

Approach

Program principles include science-based, ecosystem-focused, sustainable practices; stakeholder input and community involvement; comprehensive monitoring and evaluation; adaptive management; new fishing and diving opportunities; long-term, stable, high-quality habitat for marine life; promoting environmental and economic services; and incorporating education and outreach activities.

Projects in Development

Gulfside Network

A network of up to 10 artificial reef sites will be developed in state and federal waters of a region of the Gulf of Mexico located approximately 5-15 miles offshore and 40-60 feet deep. The purpose of the network is to provide environmental and economic benefits, including new fishing and diving opportunities, as well as long-term, high-quality habitat for marine life and waypoints for migrating fish near and offshore, or between the Gulf and the Atlantic. This region was identified by local stakeholders, scientists, and anglers as having significant potential for deploying structures and creating habitat during an FWC-hosted meeting in 2023. Each site within the network will host multiple patch reefs and a variety of structures to create complex habitats, which research has shown to promote biodiversity. By having multiple patch reefs within each site and multiple sites within the network, the habitat for fish and other marine life can be maximized while also dispersing fishing pressure and reducing human-user conflicts. This network of artificial reef sites may also help to reduce fishing pressure on more stressed areas, including natural coral reefs.

Habitat Support Structures (HSS) Pilot Program

Monroe County, FWC, and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) are partnering to create a pilot program to design, deploy, and evaluate habitat-support structures (HSS) within the sanctuary. The goal is to improve conditions and resources within the FKNMS by using structures to mitigate habitat loss associated with reductions in structural complexity. The HSS Working Group, composed of Monroe County, FWC, and FKNMS scientists and managers, will first characterize habitats across the Florida Keys Marine Ecosystem and associated structural deficits as related to fish and invertebrate life histories, followed by designing and testing HSS that functionally mimic and/or enhance the structural components that historically provided complexity in that area, and then evaluate the net ecological outcomes through a comprehensive monitoring program executed by a team of local scientists and experts.

A long-term goal of this program is to establish networks of sites spanning from nearshore to offshore on the Gulf and Atlantic sides of the Keys, supporting the natural movements of fish as they mature and migrate across marine habitats. Some test sites will include critical nursery grounds for fish and invertebrates such as spiny lobster. Many species that these structures will support are important for recreational and commercial fisheries.

Artificial Reefs in Monroe County Waters

There are more than 4,000 clusters of artificial reefs in Florida, and 37 coastal counties in Florida already have an artificial reef program in place. In the Florida Keys, there are 62 artificial reefs, including wrecks, mostly installed between 1982 and 1989. Until November 2024, the most recent artificial reef placed in Florida Keys waters was the Vandenberg off Key West in 2009.

Artificial reef locations in Monroe County and Florida can be downloaded at Download Reef Locations | FWC