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:fish: Discovery of coral reefs off Collier shores sparks debate
While pleasantly surprised at the findings, county and city environmental officials are concerned that news of the reefs will lead to their destruction.
By JEREMY COX, jgcox@naplesnews.com
October 14, 2005
Within the distance of a football field from northern Collier County's shores, researchers have discovered a flourishing and sweeping stretch of coral reefs with good potential for becoming a tourist playground.
The reef ecosystem doesn't quite measure up to the famed Florida Keys and southeast Florida reefs. But it is much more extensive and contains a greater diversity of marine life than originally thought, according to a survey more than two years in the making.
The Collier County reefs, though, have one thing their east coast cousins don't: They are within swimming distance of the beach. That makes the reefs all the more attractive for ecotourism, Christopher Makowski, a marine biologist consultant for the county, said Thursday.
"No one anticipated the resources you have," Makowski told the county's coastal advisory council. "There's no reason why Collier County can't benefit from that."
The presence of coral reefs close to Collier's beaches is no secret to experienced fishermen, who log the coordinates of the most productive reefs and return to them to find fish. But Makowski's survey offers the best glimpse yet of what lies beneath the water.
Coastal Planning & Engineering, the Boca Raton-based firm Makowski works for, identified 500 acres of hardbottom reefs between about 200 feet and 1,000 feet of the shore. The study looked at a 13.5-mile stretch of shallow water between Wiggins Pass and Naples beach.
While pleasantly surprised at the findings, county and city environmental officials are concerned that news of the reefs will lead to their destruction.
"I'm concerned about making the exact location of the coral public," said Mike Bauer, the city of Naples' natural resources manager. "People tend to love this stuff to death."
Anchors could rip apart reef formations. Careless divers could disturb the fragile coral. In nature, too many people often means too many problems.
That's why the county plans to initiate a series of meetings with tourism industry officials, residents and environmentalists to create a management plan for the reefs, said Gary McAlpin, the county's coastal projects manager.
"We've got an exceptional hardbottom resource that we've just discovered. Now the question is what we'll do with it," he said, adding that the first priority is to protect them.
The discovery could lead to a new component for Collier's already $1.1 million tourism industry: diving. Only one operation in Collier County so far offers diving trips to local waters.
Rick Clouston, owner of Naples Water and Land Tours, was stunned when told of the coral discovery and eager to check it out for himself.
"If people can snorkel, I'll be taking people out there immediately," Clouston said.
For years, he has been shuttling customers hours away in a 12-person van to Key Largo to dive at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.
"That," Clouston said, "was the only place we knew of."
"There is like a rocky coral area" just north of Doctors Pass, said Mike Thompson of the Naples Dive Center. "It's not a lot. It's not like the Keys or anything, but there are things out there."
Eventually, Makowski suggested, the county could place buoys in the water that boats could tie up to instead of dropping anchor. Floating permanent platforms or barges could be placed in the water, where hotels could drop off tourists for a day of snorkeling.
The diversity of the hardbottom environment would still be hidden if it weren't for a beach renourishment project set to begin Dec. 1. Before issuing a permit for the work, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection required the county to look at how much life was there.
Grudgingly, the county hired Coastal Planning.
Beginning in 2003, Makowski mapped the sea floor using sonar devices attached to the hull of a boat. He also dove 60 equally spaced transects from the eastern edge of the reef to points about 500 feet to the west. Underwater video cameras documented what he and other researchers saw.
Makowski hopes to put together an interactive Web site that would include videos, photos and exact coordinates of the reefs for anyone to access.
Macroalgae, important because it is at the bottom of the food chain, covered as much as 42 percent of the underwater landscape, off Pelican Bay. In similar waters off Palm Beach County, the leafy plant can only be found on about 8 percent of the sea floor.
Prized stony coral covered about 1.3 percent of the entire area studied. And unlike the Keys corals, which have rapidly died off in recent years, Collier's looked healthy, Makowski said.
Some were nearly 10 inches tall, meaning they were roughly 50 years old. All over, the reefs were teeming with grouper, crabs and other sea life.
There are probably even more coral reefs to be explored and documented to the west of the study area, Makowski suggested. While studying the dredge's narrow pipeline corridor, he continued finding patches of coral 5 miles offshore.
Per the DEP permit, the corals will be surveyed for each of the next three years and several times afterward.
While pleasantly surprised at the findings, county and city environmental officials are concerned that news of the reefs will lead to their destruction.
By JEREMY COX, jgcox@naplesnews.com
October 14, 2005
Within the distance of a football field from northern Collier County's shores, researchers have discovered a flourishing and sweeping stretch of coral reefs with good potential for becoming a tourist playground.
The reef ecosystem doesn't quite measure up to the famed Florida Keys and southeast Florida reefs. But it is much more extensive and contains a greater diversity of marine life than originally thought, according to a survey more than two years in the making.
The Collier County reefs, though, have one thing their east coast cousins don't: They are within swimming distance of the beach. That makes the reefs all the more attractive for ecotourism, Christopher Makowski, a marine biologist consultant for the county, said Thursday.
"No one anticipated the resources you have," Makowski told the county's coastal advisory council. "There's no reason why Collier County can't benefit from that."
The presence of coral reefs close to Collier's beaches is no secret to experienced fishermen, who log the coordinates of the most productive reefs and return to them to find fish. But Makowski's survey offers the best glimpse yet of what lies beneath the water.
Coastal Planning & Engineering, the Boca Raton-based firm Makowski works for, identified 500 acres of hardbottom reefs between about 200 feet and 1,000 feet of the shore. The study looked at a 13.5-mile stretch of shallow water between Wiggins Pass and Naples beach.
While pleasantly surprised at the findings, county and city environmental officials are concerned that news of the reefs will lead to their destruction.
"I'm concerned about making the exact location of the coral public," said Mike Bauer, the city of Naples' natural resources manager. "People tend to love this stuff to death."
Anchors could rip apart reef formations. Careless divers could disturb the fragile coral. In nature, too many people often means too many problems.
That's why the county plans to initiate a series of meetings with tourism industry officials, residents and environmentalists to create a management plan for the reefs, said Gary McAlpin, the county's coastal projects manager.
"We've got an exceptional hardbottom resource that we've just discovered. Now the question is what we'll do with it," he said, adding that the first priority is to protect them.
The discovery could lead to a new component for Collier's already $1.1 million tourism industry: diving. Only one operation in Collier County so far offers diving trips to local waters.
Rick Clouston, owner of Naples Water and Land Tours, was stunned when told of the coral discovery and eager to check it out for himself.
"If people can snorkel, I'll be taking people out there immediately," Clouston said.
For years, he has been shuttling customers hours away in a 12-person van to Key Largo to dive at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.
"That," Clouston said, "was the only place we knew of."
"There is like a rocky coral area" just north of Doctors Pass, said Mike Thompson of the Naples Dive Center. "It's not a lot. It's not like the Keys or anything, but there are things out there."
Eventually, Makowski suggested, the county could place buoys in the water that boats could tie up to instead of dropping anchor. Floating permanent platforms or barges could be placed in the water, where hotels could drop off tourists for a day of snorkeling.
The diversity of the hardbottom environment would still be hidden if it weren't for a beach renourishment project set to begin Dec. 1. Before issuing a permit for the work, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection required the county to look at how much life was there.
Grudgingly, the county hired Coastal Planning.
Beginning in 2003, Makowski mapped the sea floor using sonar devices attached to the hull of a boat. He also dove 60 equally spaced transects from the eastern edge of the reef to points about 500 feet to the west. Underwater video cameras documented what he and other researchers saw.
Makowski hopes to put together an interactive Web site that would include videos, photos and exact coordinates of the reefs for anyone to access.
Macroalgae, important because it is at the bottom of the food chain, covered as much as 42 percent of the underwater landscape, off Pelican Bay. In similar waters off Palm Beach County, the leafy plant can only be found on about 8 percent of the sea floor.
Prized stony coral covered about 1.3 percent of the entire area studied. And unlike the Keys corals, which have rapidly died off in recent years, Collier's looked healthy, Makowski said.
Some were nearly 10 inches tall, meaning they were roughly 50 years old. All over, the reefs were teeming with grouper, crabs and other sea life.
There are probably even more coral reefs to be explored and documented to the west of the study area, Makowski suggested. While studying the dredge's narrow pipeline corridor, he continued finding patches of coral 5 miles offshore.
Per the DEP permit, the corals will be surveyed for each of the next three years and several times afterward.
