New “Super Reef” in Louisiana
CCA’s REEF Louisiana Program, in partnership with Chevron, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Danos, and Reefmaker-Walter Marine, recently completed construction on the South Timbalier Block 63 Reef. The project is made of 36 “Super Reefs” designed by Reefmaker. The pyramid-shaped structures are comprised of concrete, steel rebar and limestone rocks. The western section of the South Timbalier 63 reef will consist of 24 8-foot-tall pyramids whereas the eastern part of the reef will be built with 12 15-foot-tall pyramids.
In addition to Chevron and Danos, funding for the South Timbalier 63 Reef comes from CCA’s REEF Louisiana Program along with matching funds provided by LDWF’s Artificial Reef Trust Fund. The South Timbalier 63 Reef is the 53rd unique artificial reef that CCA Louisiana has built overall, and the fifth completed this year.
Inaugural Ladies Fish Tagging Workshop in Alabama
CCA Alabama recently supported the first All-Ladies Fish-Tagging Workshop led by Sarah Gibbs and Crystal Hightower from the Fisheries Ecology Lab at South Alabama.
This unique workshop provided 19 women an opportunity to participate in a casting clinic before departing with local fishing guides to gain hands-on-experience tagging fish. While out on the water, participants caught, tagged and released multiple red drum and speckled trout as part of CCA Alabama’s TAG Alabama program.
Bottom Angling in Jeopardy in the South Atlantic
NOAA Fisheries is preparing to take the highly unusual step of a Secretarial Amendment to impose draconian fishing closures on anglers, a measure not even the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council thinks is necessary or warranted given what is known about the fishery. On October 11, NOAA published a notice that it is accepting public comments for an Environmental Impact Statement that will be used to support the Secretarial Amendment. This is the first step to arbitrarily implement bottom fishing closures outside of the council process. More than 1,300 comments from anglers and organizations were submitted on the EIS, the vast majority of them in opposition to drastic changes in management.
To see CCA’s comments on the EIS, visit www.JoinCCA.org/cca-comments-on-south-atlantic-red-snapper/.
Partners Join Forces to Plant Mangroves in Florida
In August, more than 40 volunteers, employees and environmental experts from Duke Energy Florida, Tampa Electric, CCA Florida, Hillsborough County’s Conservation and Land Management and Pinellas County’s Environmental Management Division, led a unique restoration project by simultaneously planting nearly 700 red and black mangroves at two locations impacted by tidal influence.
The mangroves are grown and donated by CCA Florida and the Duke Energy Crystal River Mariculture Center. More than 30 years ago, the Duke Energy Crystal River Mariculture Center started as an environmental compliance requirement to operate nearby power plants and has since grown into one of Florida’s most successful fish hatcheries and conservation allies.
Georgia Inshore Reef Project Shows Success
In 2021, CCA Georgia and No Shoes Reefs proposed a project to deploy oyster reef balls at a designated site along Georgia’s coast, aiming to boost habitat for marine life. The Ogeechee River Inshore Artificial Reef, a site not enhanced since concrete culverts were placed in 2001, was selected for the project. Since the deployment, CRD staff have conducted annual site visits to monitor the reef’s progress and the Ogeechee River Reef shows promising development.
Georgia has only two artificial reefs accessible to shore anglers, both in Glynn County. In the coming years, CRD aims to expand inshore reefs to other coastal counties, creating new fishing opportunities for shore anglers across Georgia’s coast.
North Carolina Scholarship Recipients to Pursue Studies in Marine Sciences
CCA North Carolina recently awarded scholarships to Bethany Wager, a Ph.D. student at North Carolina State University at the Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST) in Morehead City, Gabrielle Shay, currently working on her master’s thesis research in Marine Biology with Dr. Fred Scharf at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and Sally Dowd, an ecology Ph.D. student at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City with Dr. Janet Nye.
CCA NC awards annual financial support to outstanding graduate students in North Carolina in the field of fisheries science through the David and Ann Speaks Memorial Scholarship Fund created by Rocky and Lisa Carter in memory of her parents for their dedication to the conservation of North Carolina’s coastal marine resources.
Tons of Rip Rap Go Into Site Off Texas
Friends of Sabine Reefs (FSR) along with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), CCA Texas, and the Building Conservation Trust (BCT) – the national habitat program of CCA – have moved forward with the next phase of deployments into the new HI-54 Shallow site, located roughly 1.9 miles off Sea Rim State Park and roughly 9 miles from the Sabine Pass jetties.
Port Arthur LNG (PALNG) donated 8,000 tons of rip rap and transportation costs to get the materials to the Port City docks in Sabine Pass. The deployment was possible thanks to contributions from PALNG, Cheniere, Golden Pass LNG, Phillips 66, Motiva, and Valero. Along with the local community contributions, CCA Texas contributed $223,000 to the effort to ensure that all 8,000 tons were deployed into the new site. This is the second deployment into the new HI-54 Shallow site, following one in June 2024.
To date, Friends of Sabine Reefs has secured $710,000 in local industry contributions, CCA Texas has contributed $754,000, and in-kind contributions from Port City, BOMAC, Eldridge Construction, and Laredo Group have all made the Sabine Reef Initiative a reality to benefit the ecosystem and recreational anglers.
Washington Anglers Help With Broodstock Collection
CCA Tri-Cities Chapter recently held a successful broodstock collection effort to provide wild adult chinook salmon to the Priest Rapids hatchery to meet Hatchery Genetic Management Plan requirements. Located on the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, the hatchery produces more than seven million chinook smolt per year and supports fisheries in Oregon and Washington as well as the Gulf of Alaska and British Columbia.
Nearly 100 CCA volunteer anglers in 24 boats fished the pristine waters of the Reach in October, collecting 375 beautiful kings and providing them to hatchery trucks and shuttle boats at Vernita Bridge and White Bluffs. This collection ensures that a large fraction of the hatchery’s production will have at least one wild parent, reducing the impact of hatchery fish spawning in the wild.
