Installations Of The Eagle Reef Reach 235

Partners for Environmental Progress (PEP), The Eagle Reef and the City of Fairhope have announced the installation of 60 pre-assembled miniature reefs along coastal Alabama this week. The city had 14 reefs installed at locations it owns, and 46 reefs were installed under wharves owned by homeowners along Mobile Bay, Dog River and the Perdido Bay system. This installation in Fairhope is the first since The Eagle Reef’s partnership with PEP, the University of South Alabama Stokes School of Marine and Environmental Sciences (SSoMES), and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “We are excited to deploy these reefs on city property,” said Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan. “It will be interesting to watch what grows on them and how the fish populations change with the addition of the habitat.” The reefs installed this week have helped the partnership hit the first milestone of the expanded project. Creator John Shell of Mobile had already installed 175 reefs, and now there are 235 out of the goal of 1,000. In its partnership with The Eagle Reef, SSoMES is finding locations for the reefs and will help monitor, test and report on their health and the quality of the surrounding water. Where the conditions are favorable, SSoMES may stock the reefs with oysters to help reestablish populations where oyster populations are low. The Eagle Reefs are available for businesses, nonprofits and individuals to purchase or may be adopted through donations.