{"id":1007131,"date":"2026-08-17T19:52:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T19:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1007131\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T19:52:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T19:52:30","slug":"new-artificial-reef-sunk-off-jacksonville-the-first-of-its-kind-in-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1007131\/","title":{"rendered":"New artificial reef sunk off Jacksonville, the first of its kind in years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fish have a new home about 28 miles off of the Mayport Jetties \u2014 an artificial reef on the Atlantic Ocean\u2019s sandy bottom.<\/p>\n

The reef is made of concrete culverts, pipes and other items once destined to go beneath automobiles, now beneath the waves as part of a program spearheaded by the Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Club.<\/p>\n

The concrete structures were dropped in late June at Harm\u2019s Ledge, an offshore artificial and natural fishing reef site named after early fishing club pioneer Gus Harms. The concrete reef is Jacksonville\u2019s first major installation of its kind in several years and could help revitalize offshore reef development in Northeast Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat started as a grant application in 2025 became a shared commitment to improving our offshore waters,\u201d fishing club Reef Development Director Paul Malone said in a news release. \u201cThis reef is only the beginning. We\u2019re building the foundation for a long-term reef development program that will continue creating habitat, expanding recreational opportunities, and benefiting Northeast Florida for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fishing club joined others including \u201cThink It, Sink It, Reef It<\/a>,\u201d a nonprofit group that plans reef concepts with recycled material, to develop the initial concept in early 2025 to build an artificial reef with donated concrete. They submitted a grant application to secure funding, then the fishing club worked with local, state and federal agencies, private industry and community partners to design the reef project.<\/p>\n

\"\"A concrete culvert piece is dropped into the Atlantic Ocean on June 25, 2026, as part of the Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Club\u2019s artificial reef project. | Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing Club <\/p>\n

Placed underwater, the concrete culverts and other piping pieces will provide critical habitat for marine life. Almost 200 pieces were loaded onto a barge with a forklift, then towed out to the reef site and dropped to the bottom about 90 feet down.<\/p>\n

As coral and other growth occurs on the artificial reef, it will also enhance recreational opportunities for anglers, divers and outdoor enthusiasts, developers said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The project was made possible through collaboration by the city\u2019s Waterways Commission, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mobro Marine, the fishing club and others who donated the concrete reef materials.<\/p>\n

This is not the only artificial reef in waters off of Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra Beach.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mandarin High School students pose with dozens of reef balls that they made as part of an artificial reef project. | Alex Waters<\/p>\n

In 2000 and 2001, dome-shaped Reef Balls were placed on the ocean bottom to form the Charles H. Kirbo Memorial Reef<\/a> between St. Augustine and Jacksonville. Volunteers, including students from Mandarin High School, helped funnel concrete slurry into molds to make the artificial reef pieces. Five hundred were dropped off the coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fish have a new home about 28 miles off of the Mayport Jetties \u2014 an artificial reef on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1007132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,4788,293431,746,3188,723,7310,324046,50,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1007131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-conservation","tag-distribute","tag-environment","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-jaxtdy2","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117112601639335260","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1007131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1007132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1007131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1007131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1007131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}