Martin County, Florida

Artificial Reef Program

Past to Present

Martin County, Florida

The Past to The Present of our Artificial Reef

Program

1970’s Martin County Artificial Reef Map

Martin County 1986 Map 1986 Martin County Artificial Reef Map

Lady Stuart Fund Raiser Fishing Trip

“Lady Stuart”Fundraising

October 1986

Lady Stuart Cartoon October 1986Lady Stuart Cartoon October 1986

Total of 61 Reefs

NEW 2009 Map

Reef Areas Named for the Original Past “Reeftirees”

Donaldson Bill Donaldson, mayor and postmaster of Pontiac Michigan from 1954-72, retired to Stuart and helped lead campaigns to build artificial reefs in the Atlantic near his southern Florida community for 13 years.

Sirotkin Al Sirotkin, Capt. Al Sirotkin

Ernst Dr. Edgar Ernst (Dentist), In I97I, the Stuart Sailfish Club sponsored the Dr. Edgar Ernst Artificial Tire Reef consisting of 75,000 concrete-weighted auto and truck tires, 3 steel barges & 2 school bus bodies

Donaldson’s Tires & Toilets ReefOctober 1977

Auto & Truck Tires&

Old Hotel Plumbing

Bill Donaldson called it "Martin' County‘swelcome mat" for migrating sport fish. "

June 1987

USS Rankin Evinrude Memorial Reef

St. Lucie & Martin Countiesworking together

Awards Commissioners & Volunteers

29 Reefs Deployed 2000 to 200729 Reefs Deployed 2000 to 200729 Reefs Deployed 29 Reefs Deployed 2000 to 20072000 to 2007

Martin County’s Artificial Reef Program

&MCAC Reef Fund, Inc.

“Our Underwater Desert”

The Ocean Floor

FISH HOTELS IN THE DESERT

OUR GOAL

OBTAIN SUITABLE VESSELS OR MATERIALS

TO MAKE ARTIFICIAL REEFS IN THE DEEP WATERS OF MARTIN COUNTY

TO IMPROVE RECREATIONAL FISHING,

THE OFFSHORE ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM.

MCAC Members include:

John Burke, President

Dave Powell, VP - Stuart Sailfish Club

Karl Wickstrom, Florida Sportsman Magazine

Joe Lehner, Fisherman Extraordinaire

Curt Croteau, Martin County Anglers Club

Kerry Dillon, Professional Diver

29 Reefs Deployed 2000 to 200729 Reefs Deployed 2000 to 2007Reef Name Materials Site Deployment Dates

Mitigation Site A bridge pieces Nearshore July-Sept. 2000

Mitigation Site B bridge pieces Nearshore July-Sept. 2000

Mitigation Site C bridge pieces Nearshore July-Sept. 2000

Evans Crary Bridge bridge pieces Ernst Summer 2000

Tetrahedron Stack Reef concrete tetrahedrons Sirotkin April 4 and April 25, 2001

Tetrahedron Patches concrete tetrahedrons Sirotkin March 28 & June 28, 2002

Tree Barge 140’ barge Sirotkin April 19, 2002

Wickstrom Ship 168’ cargo ship Sirotkin January 21, 2003

Railroad Tie Stack concrete RR ties SirotkinMar 13, May 9, and June 23,

2003

High Queen and Zeppo tug & 120’ barge Sirotkin August 7, 2003

Five Peaks RRtie Patches concrete RR ties Sirotkin June 2 & 28-29, 2004

Tension Barge 140’ barge Sirotkin July 17, 2004

ReefMaker Triangle Reef concrete & steel units Donaldson May 18, 2005

ReefMaker Texas Reef concrete & steel units Donaldson May 20, 2005

ReefMaker Cement Barge concrete & steel units Donaldson May 20, 2005

ReefMaker Traffic Barge concrete & steel units Donaldson May 20, 2005

ReefMaker Upside Down Barge concrete & steel units Donaldson May 20, 2005

ReefMaker Inlet Barge concrete & steel units Donaldson May 20, 2005

ReefMaker Patch N concrete & steel units Sirotkin May 21, 2005

ReefMaker Patch C concrete & steel units Sirotkin May 21, 2005

ReefMaker Patch S concrete & steel units Sirotkin May 21, 2005

ReefMaker Tree Barge concrete & steel units Sirotkin May 21, 2005

Clifton Perry Memorial bridge pieces Donaldson Jan to May 2005

Frances Langford Memorial bridge pieces Sirotkin Feb to Aug 2005

PCL Deep Site bridge pieces Sirotkin October 2006

PCL Shallow Site bridge pieces Donaldson Nov.– Dec. 2006

PCL River Reef bridge pieces IR Lagoon Nov. 2006 – Jan. 2007

KD Select Reef concrete pieces Sirotkin

3 New Reefs in Ernst Site concrete pieces Ernst

FUND RAISINGMCAC ARTIFICIAL REEF FUND

♦ ANNUAL FISHING TOURNAMENT

EVERY YEAR IN JULY ♦ SELLING THE NAMING RIGHTS

TO FUTURE OR EXISTING ARTIFICAL REEFS

♦ DONATIONS

ALL FUNDS ARE FOR ARTIFICIAL REEF ACTIVITIES

Community Involvement

Contributors Sponsors Advertising

Donating time, materials, fresh ideas . . . .

Baratta MapThe MCAC Artificial Reef Fund

DEEP REEFS

THE WICKSTROMHeaded for the Sirotkin Reef Site

Deployed January 21, 2003

Wickstrom Wheelhouse

HBOI

SELLING THE NAMING RIGHTS PROVIDED THE FUNDS

FOR DEPLOYMENT

• Dr. Bob Baratta “SIGHT-SEA-ER”

• Debbie Schmidt

• American Custom Yachts

• Bausch American Towers

Group at HBOI with Towers

“BRAGGIN’ BASH” Auction WinnerDr. Baratta’s Artificial Reef

Towers ready on the barge for deployment

Underwater

Kerry Dillon, Diver Sea Rover Services

1st Place Kingfish Award The Conigiaro Family on “The Fuelish”

Other Reefs Deployed in 2008

six new reefs deployed offshore southern Martin County

located midway between St. Lucie and Jupiter Inlets

Depth 65 feet

Map of South County Deployments

these new reefs need new names

New South County Reefs

South County DeploymentNew South County Reefs

NEW NAME : FOGEL CAPITAL MANAGEMENT REEF AREA : SOUTH COUNTY

ORIGINAL NAME: MIDEAST REEF

LOCATION : Latitude N 27° 04.773’ Longitude W 80° 02.297’

DEPTH : 70 FEET

MCAC Artificial Reef Fund

CERTIFICATE OF NAMING RIGHTSCERTIFICATE OF NAMING RIGHTS

John J. Burke

President, MCAC Reef Fund

DATE Kathy Fitzpatrick, P.E.

Martin County Coastal Engineer

3 NEW REEFS FOR SALE• Newest Artificial Reefs in the Sirotkin Site built in Martin County - August 24, 2009• 1,500 TONS • THREE NEW REEFS • DEPTH: 187 feet

• 27° 13.040 80° 00.306 A (Alpha)• 27° 12.936 80° 00.280 B (Bravo)• 27° 12.814 80° 00.289 C (Charlie)

Here's a photo 14 hours later after the first

This is obviously after the deployments were

just about completed.

the post deployment dives and measurements of the

reefs footprint on the seafloor

Here's the first of several photos of the new reefs underwater.

This one is at site "Charlie", the peak at 174 ft. in 187 ft. of seawater.

This one we got lucky and two of the large concrete boxes landed on top of each other with a culvert sticking out of the top one.

This photos was taken on Saturday Aug. 29th 5 days after deployment on the 24th

Yes there are baitfish already on the new reefs. This is the Alpha site in the morning dive, 6 days after the reef was built on the

24th

Donated to MCAC Fundby

American Custom Yachts for our next project

TUG BOAT “BIG AL”

COMING SOONComing Soon – TUG BOAT “BIG AL”

69’ TUGBOAT “BIG AL”

ON THE FAR LEFT IS GEOFF BEISER THE ENGINEERING MANAGER FOR HARBOR BRANCH WHO ORGANIZES THE WORK AND THE DONATION TO OUR FUND. HE GREW UP IN THE BAHAMAS WHILE I WAS THERE FOR 14 YEARS AND I KNEW HIS FATHER WELL. WE HAVE WORKED TOGETHER ON EACH OF THE 11 SIGNS THAT THEY HAVE DONE FOR US. THE YOUNG LADY IS THE DRAFTSPERSON WHO WORKS ON OUR SIGNS . THE OTHER 2 GUYS I DON'T HAVE NAMES FOR, BUT THEY ARE THE WELDER AND PAINTER. FOR HARBOR BRANCH.

Our Special Thanks to:FWC GrantsFlorida Sea GrantsHarbor Branch OceanographicMartin County Anglers ClubStuart Sailfish ClubSafari I Deep Sea FishingMarine IndustriesSea Rover ServicesMcCulley Marine