Martin County will sink a 227-foot-long freighter in about 200 feet of water nine miles off the St. Lucie Inlet in Stuart on Nov. 18 to create the Boo McCulley Reef.
It will be at least the ninth ship intentionally sunk as an artificial reef off the Treasure Coast.
USS Rankin
Navy attack cargo ship from 1945-47 and again from 1952-71, sunk in about 135 feet of water off the St. Lucie Inlet on July 24, 1988. It was nearly split in half by hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004, but the stern remains mostly intac
USS Muliphen
South Pacific Navy cargo and transport ship participated in the invasion of Okinawa during World War II, was sunk in about 175 feet of water 12 miles off Fort Pierce on Jan. 21, 1989. Named after a star in the Canis Major constellation.
Wickstrom Reef
168-foot-long ship, previously known as the “Lady Laura,” the “Tauros” and the Army FS 553, sunk in about 190 feet of water 9 miles off the St. Lucie Inlet on Jan. 21, 2003. The reef is named after Florida Sportsman magazine founder and editor Karl Wickstrom. The Martin County Anglers Club purchased the vessel, and Martin County and local fishing and diving organizations helped pay to sink it. The reef is for advanced-level decompression divers.
Tug Kathleen
1957 steel-built, 70-foot-long tug sunk in 140 feet of water 15 miles southeast of the Fort Pierce Inlet on Sept. 26, 2016. It’s for experienced divers and home to red snapper, scamp, gag and amberjack
A.A. Hendry
127-foot-long, aluminum-hulled motor yacht, built in 1987 and sunk in 160 feet of water about 15 miles southeast of the Fort Pierce Inlet on July 15, 2023.
Voici Bernadette
180-foot-long Bolivian cargo freighter sunk in about 100 feet of water 11 miles southeast of the Fort Pierce Inlet on June 23, 2019. The previous year, Customs and Border Protection seized it when it arrived in Miami from Haiti carrying 800 bricks of cocaine totaling 2,000 pounds.
CCA Curtis Bostick
180-foot-long steel ship, formerly used for drug-smuggling, seized by Customs and Border Protection, sunk 12 miles southeast of the Fort Pierce Inlet on June 23, 2019. Named after conservationist Curtis Bostick
Tug Singleton
Tug was sunk in about 112 feet of water 11 miles off the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant in September 2021. It has 32 concrete reef modules attached to it to add more growing-surface structure for corals. Too deep for recreational divers. Home to grunt, grouper, snapper, triggerfish and sea bass.
Florida artificial reefs boost economy
An economic analysis by Florida Sea Grant states that fishing and diving on artificial reefs provides 39,000 jobs for Floridians, generating $3.1 billion of economic activity annually.
Florida invests in artificial reef programs because they generate money from divers and anglers and take pressure off the natural reef. The state has one of the most vigorous artificial reef programs among the 15 Gulf and Atlantic coastal states that create artificial reefs.
The FWC Artificial Reef Program provides financial and technical assistance to local governments, nonprofits and state universities to construct, monitor and assess projects. The agency allocates about $600,000 a year for projects throughout the state, and has distributed over $26.5 million for reefs and related activities.
Since the 1940s, over 4,442 reefs have been deployed in state and federal waters off Florida’s coast.
Tim O’Hara is TCPalm’s environment reporter. Contact him at tim.ohara@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: 8 ships sunk for artificial reefs off Treasure Coast attract anglers, divers, snorkelers
Reporting by Timothy O’Hara, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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