"If you build it, they will come."

     That's the simple theory behind our desire to build artificial reefs.

     The more complex theory involves the creation of a marine food web which begins the moment larval invertebrates such as barnacles and hard corals bump into a piece of structure and glom on. Before long another "layer" of sealife, including crabs and shrimp, moves in to feed on those earlier arrivals. Soon after, small fish like pinfish and black sea bass discover the new dinner buffet, and as we all know, where there are small fish, larger fish are right behind.

     "If you build it, they will come."

     That's the simple theory behind our desire to build artificial reefs.

     The more complex theory involves the creation of a marine food web which begins the moment larval invertebrates such as barnacles and hard corals bump into a piece of structure and glom on. Before long another "layer" of sealife, including crabs and shrimp, moves in to feed on those earlier arrivals. Soon after, small fish like pinfish and black sea bass discover the new dinner buffet, and as we all know, where there are small fish, larger fish are right behind.

     For most of Florida's history of artificial reef building, however, we initiated that natural process in a somewhat haphazard manner. Well-meaning coastal county governments would sink just about anything that had a specific gravity higher than seawater. Typewriters, refrigerators, washing machines, copiers, cash registers and bicycles-all went over the side.

Unfortunately, the odd hurricane, or tropical storm, would eventually scatter most of the stuff all over the seabed, somewhat defeating the purpose. Those days are over, however, and today reef sites and materials are carefully chosen to enhance the existing bottom habitat, increase local fish populations, and stay put.

    And thanks to the development of pre-fabricated concrete modules, along with an abundance of derelict ships, numerous outdated bridges and other concrete debris discarded by a growing society, there is no lack of material available for reef building. Nor is there a lack of interest on the part of recreational anglers and local governments. Numerous non-profit fishing and diving organizations throughout the state exist for the single purpose of creating and enhancing artificial reefs. At least a dozen teams of highly trained divers run bottom surveys and monitoring programs associated with artificial reef construction. Some larger coastal counties, recognizing the substantial economic impact of saltwater fishing and diving have full-time staff positions dedicated to creating more reefs.

    "There are currently 1,843 artificial reefs in state and federal waters off of Florida," said Bill Horn, an environmental specialist in the artificial reef section of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Division of Marine Fisheries. "That includes multiple but separate deployments on a single large site."

    The state's artificial reef section disperses around $600,000 every year to support artificial reef projects around the state. The money is generated by anglers through two sources-half comes from the sale of recreational saltwater licenses and half from the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Program which sends money back to the states from a federal excise tax on fishing tackle.

    It's money well spent, and returns an economic value that can hardly be overstated. One recent study done by Broward County found that the "capitalized value" associated with artificial reef use in Palm Beach, Broward, Dade and Monroe counties was $2.8 billion annually.

    The state issues about 20 grants each year to county governments, nonprofit organizations and universities pursuing reefbuilding initiatives or artificial-reef studies. About two thirds of the grants go toward reefs in state waters and about one third goes to projects in federal waters. Individual grants are used to place material, buy prefabricated modules, clean ships destined for sinking, and fund studies designed to improve the success of future artificial reefs. Scores of other new reefs and deployments are created without state support each year by other entities such as county governments, fishing clubs and reef-building organizations.

    As a result, reefs of all shapes and sizes are appearing around Florida at an unprecedented rate. In the first six months of 2002, 74 new sites were added to the state's artificial reef database.

    Among those were some interesting deployments including a number of ships previously seized by U. S. Customs in Miami that have been turned into artificial reefs off southeast Florida. In the Panhandle, Okaloosa County recently sank a steel-hulled paddlewheel steamboat, the Seabarb, which once ran on the Mississippi. In Lee County, a 36-ton radio tower was cut up into pieces, which were anchored in concrete at one end to form a vertical reef that will attract both bottom fish and pelagics.

    Florida and neighboring Alabama are the only states along the Gulf and Atlantic that still allow the construction of "private" reefs. A private reef doesn't mean only the person that put it there can fish there. It means anyone can assemble suitable reef material, have it approved, and then place it anywhere they want within a permitted area, only in these cases the coordinates are not published.

    Florida has seven such areas in the waters off the western Panhandle ranging between 14 and 108 nautical square miles-two off Escambia County, three off Okaloosa County and two off Bay County.

    Unfortunately, that effort pales in comparison to private reef building off the Alabama coast. "We have 1,200 square miles permitted off Alabama," said David Walter, owner of Reef Maker, a private reefbuilding and placement company. "We utilize every area that we can except an area set aside for shrimpers."

    The permitted area is as wide as the 30-mile Alabama coast. It starts in about 65 feet of water and continues out to about 180-foot depths. It also omits some areas that contain natural hard bottom.