Written by Susan Erwin
Photos by Dusty Hopkins and submitted
What a Mini Reef looks like above the water
(above) and what it looks like from below
(below left).
May/June 2019 GASPARILLA ISLAND 21
Thousands of tiny sea creatures are growing
beneath a dock at a canal home owned by
the Mauran family in Boca Grande. You see,
they have something most homeowners on
Gasparilla Island don’t possess – an artificial Mini
Reef installed in the water behind their island home.
University of South Florida marine biology student
David Wolff invented the Mini Reef and
founded a company called Ocean Habitat Inc. nearly
20 years after earning his degree. After more than
100 prototypes, the Mini Reef system was finalized
and one was placed in Marco Island waters, in
Collier County. The city hired Ocean Habitat to install
25 reef systems in a canal to re-establish dwindling
fish nurseries, and they quickly became popular
with island residents. In turn those island residents
purchased more than 175 additional systems to use
on their properties.
The original intent of the Mini Reef was to utilize them under
docks in canals to provide habitats for fish. In areas such as Marco
Island and Cape Coral, many of those canals were considered all
but devoid of aquatic life.
New opportunities for the system have developed and large
aquaculture reefs have been installed in the Florida Keys to aid in
the growth and replenishment of common restaurant seafood.
“Obviously you can’t walk out and pick seafood right off the
reef, but what these aquacultures do is provide a safe
environment for juvenile sea creatures to mature before they.
migrate out to flat bottom areas where they can be harvested
by commercial fisherman,” Wolff explained. “In the canals,
residents are seeing all of those quality species that they have
never seen before or haven’t seen in a long time. We’re seeing
everything from stone crab, grouper and snapper to snook and
tarpon.”