Eagle Reef Project aims to install 1,000 artificial reefs along Alabama’s coast
The Eagle Reef Project installs artificial reefs in Fairhope. Supporters hope to dramatically expand the initiative. (Allanah Taylor / Alabama News Center)
A coalition of partners and volunteers in the Mobile area are joining forces to expand significantly the number of artificial mini oyster reefs in Alabama’s coastal waters.
Partners for Environmental Progress Mobile (PEP) has joined with the University of South Alabama School of Marine and Environmental Sciences to take The Eagle Reef Project to a whole new level.
The mission: to install 1,000 of the mini reefs by the end of 2024 – way beyond the initial goal of 175 established for an Eagle Scout project led by John Shell of Troop 147 in Mobile.
“We want to take Shell’s amazing efforts and grow from 175 to 1,000 reefs all across coastal Alabama.” Said Jennifer Denson, PEP executive director.
The positive impact of 1,000 oyster reefs would be substantial to coastal Alabama waters. According to estimates, the oysters in those reefs could filter 7.3 billion gallons of water a year, helping improve water quality and water clarity and benefiting a range of sea life.
“Each one of these reefs, in the course of a day, filters 30,000 gallons of water, which is about the size of an average backyard swimming pool, said David Wolff, founder of the Florida-based nonprofit Ocean Habitats, which installs the mini reefs. “When you put 1,000 of them out, it gets to big numbers.”
The 2-foot-wide, 3-foot-long, 2-foot-deep floating reefs are typically placed in unused spaces beneath piers and docks. The reefs float on the water surface.
The city of Fairhope was the first government to embrace the Eagle Reef Project along Alabama’s coast, installing 14 mini reefs at city-owned sites and another 36 under wharfs owned by private homeowners along Mobile Bay, Dog River and the Perdido Bay system.
“The biggest thing for the city of Fairhope is the signage, to be able to educate people who come to our beaches about the Eagle Reef Project, as well as students who come down to the beach on field trips.” said Mayor Sherry Sullivan.
“I think it’s important to continue to educate people on the health of Mobile Bay, and anything we can do individually or collectively as municipalities to protect the bay and to protect the ecosystem we have here along Alabama’s Gulf Coast,” Sullivan added.
“Education starts early. It starts young, and kids are going to be excited to be able to come down here, pull them up, or look at them and see what’s on the reef.”
Alabama Power is among the companies supporting the project, along with Spire, Evonik Industries and Thompson Engineering. Additional supporters and volunteers are also being sought to help meet the 1,000 reef goal.
To learn more about the Eagle Reef project visit theeaglereef.com.
