Charlotte County Reef Monitoring Project
Earth Tech Environmental has taken their fieldwork underwater with a new project in Charlotte County. The Charlotte County Reef Monitoring project requires leaving our boots back at the office and replacing them with fins. The scope of the services includes monitoring fish populations, by season, on artificial reefs in the Gulf of Mexico and Charlotte Harbor near Charlotte County, Florida.
An ETE Ecologists in a School of Almaco Jack
The purpose of the project to help determine the overall health of the artificial ecosystem, and whether artificial reefs can be mutually beneficial to both nature and humans. Is there a substantial fish population on the reefs, including ornamental and sport fish? Could these reefs become good fishing spots for anglers looking for the sports fish such as snook, grouper, and snapper? Will these artificial reefs create greater tourism opportunities for Charlotte County?
A Sheepshead and a Gray Snapper
The day of fieldwork consists of diving on 4 different publicly listed reefs, all predetermined beforehand to get a wide range of reef structures and water conditions. For example, the reef depths monitored during the most recent event were 55, 38, 31, and 14 feet, with various structure types including culverts, concrete pilings, old pier fragments, reef balls, and more.
A Look at the Structure that Forms the Artificial Reef
Ecologists dive down and take data for 30 minutes. Observations are taken down throughout the dive, including the presence of other species inhabiting the reef, including turtles and sharks, and noting the presence of nuisances to the reef such as lionfish and green mussels. Notes on the health of the reef are also noted, including any indications of material erosion or scouring.
A sheepshead amongst a school of scaled sardines
On one dive, two ETE ecologists found 30 species of fish, including snook, cobia, and goliath grouper, along with a rare Kemp’s rildey turtle!
