CCA DR. Bart Carey Reef- Center

15 Foot Tall Super reef with Memorial Plaque. Also 8 foot tall Florida Special Nestled inside for additional Habitat.

The Press release that we sent out is attached below:

New Artificial Reef in Franklin County to be Named in Honor of Dr. Bart Carey

The Organization for Artificial Reefs (OAR), a volunteer fishing and advocacy group dedicated to developing public artificial reefs, is excited to announce the deployment of a new artificial reef. The new material to be deployed is an addition to the Carrabelle 10 Mile Reef System south of Franklin County, within easy striking distance of local marinas and boat ramps. “Research continues to show the positive benefits of reef construction for both marine life and marine based economies throughout the world,” said Alan Richardson, OAR Coordinator.

On or about July 25th over 336 tons of material are scheduled to be deployed in 50 feet of water near Robby’s Reef, 10 miles southeast of Dog Island. This deployment will consist of 46 prefabricated reef modules split between 5 “Super Reefs” that are 15 feet tall and forty-one 8-foot tall “Florida Special” reef modules. They will be distributed among five separate patch reefs in the permitted area known as the CCA Dr. Bart Carey Memorial Reef.

The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) https://ccaflorida.org/ partnered with OAR using a significant cash donation made possible from the Carey family to add to the FWC grant dollars for the project. FWC provided for a grant of $138,000 and required a match of $15,000 from the City of Carrabelle. CCA will be paying for the $15,000 cash match on behalf of the city, and for an additional super reef module that will feature a plaque honoring Dr. Carey. OAR donated the permitting of the site and grant writing to win the grant for this important addition to the marine environment. As with the very popular OAR “Robby’s Reef” project, these reef modules are designed to mimic natural habitat for a wide variety of sea organisms, ranging from marine algae to bottom-dwelling fish such as grouper and snapper.

Each time OAR builds a reef, the actual deployment represents a culmination of months, and more often years, of strategic planning and paperwork. The initial step typically calls for OAR’s specially trained dive team to search for and identify suitable sites for reef construction. OAR’s grant proposal for the project won approval from the FWC last year. The deployment work for the project will be performed by Walter Marine https://reefmaker.com/ who also designed and constructed the patented artificial reef modules.

The CCA Dr. Bart Carey Reef project was sponsored by the City of Carrabelle and FWC through funding from the Sportfish Restoration Act, which authorizes up to 15 percent of a state’s annual Sport Fish Restoration apportionment to be used for Aquatic Resource Education Programs. These programs support angler education, outdoor ethics, stewardship and conservation, increasing public understanding of our water resources and aquatic life forms.

OAR is proud and thankful to contribute to our local coastal economy and to the Big Bend marine environment. We encourage anyone interested in the locations or other information about these reefs or the work of OAR to visit www.OARReefs.org or email us at [email protected]. Press related inquiries can be directed to Alan Richardson at 850 545-2273 or [email protected]