Sarasota Bay gaining 24 artificial reefs, aiming to attract grouper, snapper
SARASOTA BAY, Fla. (WFLA) — New fish homes will make a rather big splash in Sarasota Bay on Tuesday.
This is great news for the ecosystem and also for recreational fishermen.
The new artificial reefs aim to home grouper, snapper, and other fish.
The Sarasota Bay Estuary Program will scatter 24 modules throughout the bay.
Dr. Jay Leverone, a Staff Scientist at the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, said each artificial reef is estimated to weigh a ton and fish are expected to live in them for the first two years of their lives.
“If you look at Sarasota Bay, most of the shoreline is seawall,” Leverone said. “That doesn’t provide habitat for nursery fish and so this is to offset some of the losses that we’ve seen over the years.”
In the next couple of years, program leaders hope to make tags to track the fish throughout their journies underwater.
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