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Thousands of tiny sea creatures — filtering water and attracting fish — grow on artificial reefs underneath docks in Marco Island. Photo courtesy Ocean Habitats LLC Beginning decades ago, thousands of acres in Florida were transformed with dredge-and-fill operations that created canals to maximize waterfront development. These canals provide homeowners with easy water access to our diverse waterways, but the docks, bulkheads and seawalls don’t provide the same habitat values and water quality benefits as our salt marshes and mangroves. Typically canals have poor water quality because of the surrounding land uses and a lack of tidal flushing, so they’re...

Ocean Habitats is excited to announce its new water quality monitoring program for Marco Island.  Canal Watch is one of several new initiatives Ocean Habitats is launching in an effort to fulfill its ongoing mission to bring coastal waters to life.  We are seeking donations to cover the cost of collection equipment and water testing supplies.  Ocean Habitats, Inc is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and your donation is tax deductible. Ocean Habitats is also seeking local volunteers to help collect and record the seasonal and yearly variations of important water quality parameters in Marco Island’s canals.  Every volunteer...

Ocean Habitats, Inc. has developed an artificial habitat system that is called a “Mini Reef ” which establishes a micro ecosystem of aquatic life under existing boat docks. The mini reef mimics the environment that is normally found in the prop root system of mangrove trees. This natural environment was long ago removed from area waters when large scale coastal development took place in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Where once there were mangrove forests there are now man-made canal systems with seawalls and boat docks. This man-made world is designed to limit the amount of growth that takes place on...

Lionfish have become a serious problem in the western Atlantic over the past 35 years, after being introduced most likely by saltwater aquarium owners releasing their fish. A native of the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea, lionfish have no natural predators in the waters of Florida. Lionfish have been slowly expanding their territory and in recent years, have been found in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including areas near Marco Island. Once these fish move in, there is little that can be done to eliminate them. They simply out breed local fish and eat so many juvenile native fish...

We have been hard at work in Marco Island Florida installing more Mini Reefs. There are now 108 Mini Reefs in the water which means this summer these units will be filtering 3.7 million gallons of water per day and they will be helping over 20,000 young fish grow up. We are looking forward to installing ever more Mini Reefs next month.