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00:00we're gonna do something a little different today we're gonna go below the
00:04surface you see how artificial reefs in the dive community are woven into the
00:09reef system that we normally fish
00:13chasing the Sun is brought to you by Florida water sports
00:42get all you need for the water at fws.fish Humminbird simply clearly better
00:52Minn Kota and by Pirates Cove marina you enjoy the gulf we'll take care of the
01:00rest
01:16artificial reefs have come a long ways over the years you know used to be you'd
01:21have some construction materials or some chicken coops and people would just dump
01:24them offshore well that's completely changed now there's a permitting process
01:28and there's local agencies that schedule and see that these projects get done
01:32so that we have more and more structure out there every year so that fishermen
01:36and divers can all have more structure to enjoy
01:43in Northwest Florida we see something that looks like a desert when we go
01:48underwater a lot of unconsolidated sediments such as mainly sand a lot of the same
01:54pretty sand that we see on our beach we see underwater those are interrupted by
01:59different patches of live bottom where we will see exposed limestone we once
02:06thought that it was nothing but desert down there but as we have more side scan
02:11survey work being done in our area we're finding out there's more areas of
02:17limestone ledges and things that we didn't know about it's exciting to see we've
02:23got over 800 reefs that are currently in Bay County the majority have been geared
02:29towards the fishing community the fishing community is an integral part of us
02:35planning out artificial reef habitats what we're trying to do with an
02:41artificial reef is to create that same hard substrate that you see as limestone
02:46or live bottom that we call it here locally our most popular artificial reefs are boats to
02:53be visited by both fishers and divers diving here in Panama City Beach is pretty unique in the
03:02aspect that we've got a substantial amount of military heritage or history associated
03:07with a lot of the dive sites so a lot of the vessels that we have out there are shipwrecks that
03:12are artificially sunk years ago that are all military vessels in nature everything from research
03:20vessels to mine sweepers to hovercrafts it's it's makes for a pretty unique dive experience
03:27Bay County has a long-standing history of military dive operations and that's critical to what we do right now
03:42we've got two differentiations of locations of where all these dive sites are out there's
03:48probably over a dozen different ships that that folks can dive on there's been days that we've
03:53we've showed up on site and actually looked down you can see the entire shipwreck below the boat you
04:00know as far as the visibility goes I mean those are there's ideal days where it's flat seas and calm and
04:05beautiful so down once we once we get the divers on the wreck it's common to see majority of the shipwrecks
04:12just completely covered with marine life you'll see everything from like small bait fish amberjack red
04:19snapper just you name it flounder on the bottom and it's it's quite the sight to see you know being
04:28able to swim and interact with all the marine life that's down there so we had we had the
04:35opportunity to actually dive on some new concrete structures that were put down from the county they
04:41had a bunch of culverts and pipes and different shaped concrete structures and when we went out
04:47there to investigate this new site that they ended up deploying it brought me back to the whole video game
04:55the Super Mario World this literally looks like something right out of a video game from back in
05:02the the 80s and the 90s and let's name it Mario's Reef let's call that whole area Super Mario World and
05:07the name was just perfect and and fitting and at that point once we started talking to our clients
05:14about it they were like oh yeah let's go to Mario World we want to go diving and swim through these
05:19pipes and you know see what it's like down there you know one of the coolest recent projects was the
05:31sinking of the deep stem the overall excitement of being part of this program of sinking the deep
05:38stem and actually seeing it transition into an artificial reef it's pretty pretty remarkable it's kind
05:45a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this project the deep stem 3 was the first time that three counties
05:52came together to create a new reef and it was a wonderful collaboration really to pull together to
05:58showcase you know what we have in our marine resources all these destinations have very very
06:03rich fishing fishing culture very rich diving culture and providing a site as big as the deep stem
06:09it's actually the second largest artificial reef that we have in our areas provides a really awesome
06:15new asset that we can all rally behind and talk about this was one of those great projects where
06:20we're able to come together very quickly because we all have a common goal and that is to enhance
06:26the tourism and recreational activities in the Gulf of Mexico and along Northwest Florida
06:32the destinations in Northwest Florida are really dependent on these artificial reefs without these
06:39artificial reefs there just wouldn't be enough places for people to go fishing there wouldn't be
06:42enough places for people to go diving here in Northwest Florida we have a lot of sand while we do have
06:49some of those the limestone outcroppings it's really not that much look at our sugar white sands on our
06:56beaches that that extends into the Gulf and so the artificial reefs actually create habitat
07:01and why is it important in places like the Gulf Coast because the bottom is pretty devoid of any
07:07structures so you're providing that structure that is so needed for animals to settle to aggregate around
07:13and generally increase your biomass of life you want sessile animals to settle all over your artificial reef
07:20little barnacles soft corals hard corals and to grow the biomass generally provides shelter for baby fish and bigger fish and the
07:29predatory fish that we like to catch and multiply that formula over a wide area
07:34behind us we have the RV deep stem 3 it's about 42 years old it's a 239 foot research vessel that was primarily
07:45used for seafloor exploration it's been decommissioned here in Northwest Florida we really rely on artificial
07:53reefs to create that habitat that's important for the native species but it's also really important for the
07:57fishing and diving industries we have the shipwreck trail which extends all the way along the Gulf of
08:04Mexico and it includes reefs like the a risk any off of Pensacola in the Red Sea off of Panama City Beach
08:11sinking an artificial reef is not an easy proposition it's come all the way from Lafitte Louisiana it went
08:23through clean up in Orange Beach Alabama and now we're about 30 nautical miles southwest from the
08:28St. Andrews Pass where it's slated for deployment here in the Gulf any artificial reef project they all pose
08:34their own challenges and and they're everyone is pretty much different so one of the most important
08:40aspects of you know getting a vessel ready to be able to create an artificial reef is you have to take
08:45everything out that could pollute the Gulf of Mexico the engines the petroleum products the wiring the
08:51class I mean all of those things that could be hazards in the future have to be out before we sink the
08:57boat all the plugs have been pulled and she is starting to sink so I suspect she'll be on the bottom in
09:05the next 30 minutes or so engineers have a pretty thorough method for getting these sunk they will typically weld off
09:13porthole doors so that way the compartments can fill and it serves as a bit of ballast so the
09:20engineering is working out perfectly the holes are typically cut in a zigzag pattern so it goes from
09:26one end to the other to sink gradually we can see that the bow is starting to go first so it should
09:31self-correct here in a moment and you will start to see the back of the boat fill with water as soon as
09:37one edge either the border starboard side catches a wave oh we actually attached about 20 modules to
09:49the back deck of this vessel which is something that never been done before but because it's that
09:53concrete limestone and it encourages growth a lot more than just bare steel does so hopefully that
09:57jump starts the process a little bit this will be a more productive reef in a shorter amount of time
10:01so once this vessel hits the bottom the more important part is that it's going to bring an
10:10impressive array of fish who aren't immediately used to having a structure like this in the
10:14vicinity it's going to bring a lot of life three to five months from now and then within one to five
10:22years it's going to become a full reef community encrusted with your sponges and your corals it'll give
10:28divers and anglers alike a new reef to hunt species prior species such as amberjack snapper and grouper on
10:37as well and and of course it's a big draw for tourism it's going to be a part of our shipwreck trail
10:58so this is in 135 feet of water and the structure itself the ship is 239 feet long and 65 foot tall
11:25and the rule is you have to deploy the vessel and make sure that the top of it is at least one half
11:32the water depth from the surface that's to allow for large vessels to pass over top of it not hit
11:38it also increases stability you know one of the great things about this project is it allows the
11:44you know the three counties to come together but as we look down the road there's going to be other
11:48collaborative projects to showcase you know what we have in our marine resources because anglers don't
11:55care about you know county lines the fish don't care about county lines that the divers and the
12:01fishermen don't really care who's paying for this they don't care what community is necessarily being
12:06benefited more than than another they just want a place to go out and go fishing and diving they're
12:11not going to all be concentrated in one place but extended across the Gulf to really do enhance the
12:17habitat and enhance the resource
12:22so here in Panama City Beach we've got six different dive operations there's eight different dive boats that are
12:36associated with those dive operations and in a way we're all kind of one big family and you know we kind of all work
12:42together to be able to offer pretty much everything that you could imagine when it comes to diving
12:47scuba is for everybody it's not just for an exclusive group and that means all of our divers that are going
12:55through the adaptable scuba or you know we like to say handy capable because all of our dive shops make the
13:00effort to assist in any way possible so that scuba can be enjoyed by those who are interested
13:08adaptable scuba is because we take the adaptive and the able-bodied communities and we put them
13:18together so that everyone can experience the freedom and frankly the magic of scuba
13:23many people who have disabilities don't even think about whether they can scuba or not and so that
13:36opportunity allows them to do something that maybe they never thought of doing before or maybe they
13:43used to do and then an accident or an illness or something has changed them to where they need
13:49help or assistance in some way allow them to do everything possible that they can do for themselves and
13:57whatever they can't do for themselves we do for them except for a very rare circumstance we can get
14:07most people we can get most people in the water you know one of the very first skills that somebody
14:12will accomplish is breathing underwater because you know our brain says you know how am i we're not made
14:18to breathe underwater how does this work so get them in the water four feet of water they get a regulator in
14:22their mouth they take it out they put it back in they breathe on it faces in the water and then they
14:27and then they you know stand up or we help them up and they get this big grin on their face that
14:32they you know they blew you know blue bubbles underwater and I said you got a new superpower you know
14:37breathing underwater and it's amazing that the kiddos get a big grin adults get this big grin because now
14:43they have a superpower adaptable has been around for a few years now and we train people to be buddies
14:52like myself and what we do is we train to be able to go into open water with adaptable divers to be able
15:02to scuba dive to get back out there and do things that they just can't do by their self and and it's
15:07it's really nice to see these guys coming out of the water and how happy so I like my buddy today
15:11Carl always grouchy but today he comes out of the water and he's happy and he's nice to everybody
15:17so I'm here with adaptable scuba well Dallas Fort Worth area and Texas and it's just a wonderful
15:24group of people that make sure that we can all go diving I'm actually a paddy dive master and I'm
15:29one of the professionals that takes teams out with us and make sure that everybody's doing safety and
15:34paying attention to their diver and being very good buddies adaptive buddies or just a plain buddy
15:41have amputees we have deaf we have MS we have cerebral palsy we have just a multitude of different
15:50things including people that never thought they could dive again or could never dive because they
15:57had never really had those channels opened up to them beautiful dive great place great boat actually
16:05caught a founder with Hawaiian sling I was so excited about that that was so cool I'm so happy I'm gonna
16:12be eating it tonight at the restaurant getting that feeling of complete neutral buoyancy where I'm not
16:19sitting in a chair it's just freeing to be able to to get that kind of motion and mobility that you can't do
16:27sitting on the ground there is a higher level certification for scuba divers to work with people with
16:34disabilities and so our team of trained scuba divers get in the pool and allow them to experience that
16:42weightlessness and even if they never come back again you know if scuba isn't what you know becomes their
16:49passion they've done that less than one percent of the United States population are scuba divers and they have
16:58scuba dove what else can they do so what else have they been told or they told themselves that they couldn't do
17:04that they've been dreamed of doing and now maybe this will help them to hey wait a minute if I can do
17:10this then I can go do this and so we can change the world in ways that people don't have any idea it's it's an
17:22inclusivity it's an accessibility it's an empowerment it's self-confidence there are so many words you can use
17:33for this but I just prefer the term magic because it is magical chasing the Sun has been brought to you by
17:48Minn Kota Florida water sports get all you need for the water at FWS.fish Hummonbirds simply clearly better and by
18:05Pirates Cove marina you enjoy the Gulf we'll take care of the rest
18:10well the man in the sea museum is a military diving museum we showcase a lot of things that were built
18:25here and tested in Bay County we have sea lab one outside just start a saturation dive and it's just
18:32an amazing piece well sea lab one was the start of saturation diving for the US they proved the
18:40concept that divers could live under pressure and save time and not have to decompress every day it
18:47really set the groundwork for testing and approval and all the dive missions that took place after sea
18:54lab I mean the whole country we had our space race going and we wanted to prove that we could lead the
19:00way in this epic operation the best part about the man in the sea museum is visitors can come out they
19:07don't have to be a diver they can learn about the diving missions that happen they can learn about
19:11saturation diving they can try on dive helmets dive boots pick up a weight belt and really feel what
19:18it was like to be an aquanaut on the bottom of the ocean it's a great place for families to come
19:24around and spend some time and trick your kids into learning something if you're into reef fishing you
19:34know this very well but I'll tell you when people put these projects together and they get these
19:40structures sunk on the bottom when you get the coordinates to that new spot there's just something
19:45special there's just something always fun about pulling up seeing it on your machine knowing that new
19:50structures down there and mark and fish mark and bait trying to kind of figure out what's there
19:58and the best part for me is actually fishing the structure and that's the only way I can figure out
20:03what's on it I know the divers they have the same experience except they actually go below the surface and
20:08they get to see with their own eyes the new fish that are on that structure one of the great things
20:20about these artificial reefs is the fact that we can keep building them to keep up with the growing
20:25population of divers and fishermen that use these resources and with good planning like this we can
20:32keep Panama City Beach the red snapper capital of the world oh man that's awesome that's a pretty
20:39red snapper that is beautiful sorry dude we got to eat you
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