cdiver2
Contributor
We are going from a very bad episode of red tide to this.
Attracting snorklers from all over
Friday, August 12, 2005
Pasco County is looking for areas to plant artificial reefs.
Tourism along Florida's gulf coast is growing and Pasco County is getting into the action by giving nature a jump start.
Florida Fish and Wildlife officers and local leaders went into the gulf off the coast of Pasco looking for spots to create an artificial reef.
County officials are hoping by doing that, it'll bring financial boom to the area.
"We have U.S. military tanks lined up," Port Richey Mayor Mark Abbott said. "That's the kind of structure we could use and the corals will start growing on it almost immediately."
The Pasco plan calls for finding two spots deep enough to scuba and shallow enough to snorkel.
"Obviously it attracts tourists and dollar for dollar, you get a lot more than you put into it," Captain Joyce Wagner of Charter Fishing said.
Right now, it looks like the reefs will be about a mile away from the first marker off the coast of Port Richey.
Local leaders, coastal conservationists and state officials are looking into locations and funding for the two artificial reefs.
Port Richey is considering following in the footsteps of artificial reef programs off the Panhandle and the keys in terms of fundraising, promotion and gaining all the necessary permits to make the tourism project happen.
Attracting snorklers from all over
Friday, August 12, 2005
Pasco County is looking for areas to plant artificial reefs.
Tourism along Florida's gulf coast is growing and Pasco County is getting into the action by giving nature a jump start.
Florida Fish and Wildlife officers and local leaders went into the gulf off the coast of Pasco looking for spots to create an artificial reef.
County officials are hoping by doing that, it'll bring financial boom to the area.
"We have U.S. military tanks lined up," Port Richey Mayor Mark Abbott said. "That's the kind of structure we could use and the corals will start growing on it almost immediately."
The Pasco plan calls for finding two spots deep enough to scuba and shallow enough to snorkel.
"Obviously it attracts tourists and dollar for dollar, you get a lot more than you put into it," Captain Joyce Wagner of Charter Fishing said.
Right now, it looks like the reefs will be about a mile away from the first marker off the coast of Port Richey.
Local leaders, coastal conservationists and state officials are looking into locations and funding for the two artificial reefs.
Port Richey is considering following in the footsteps of artificial reef programs off the Panhandle and the keys in terms of fundraising, promotion and gaining all the necessary permits to make the tourism project happen.
