CURTIS BOSTICK REEF DYNAMICS

The Curtis Bostick – Paul Jaquin (CB-PJ) artificial reef complex (initiated in June 2019) is located in approximately 30 m depth ~11 NM ESE of Fort Pierce Inlet, making it accessible to both fishermen and recreational divers of Florida’s Treasure Coast region. The site includes a roughly N-S oriented vessel (Voici Bernadette; i.e., Curis Bostick) adjacent to multiple concrete piles (Paul Jaquin), which are broadly scattered in a generally west to east direction to the north of the ship.  The offshore position of the CB-PJ site makes it susceptible to vagaries of the Florida current (i.e., Gulf Stream). Consequently, the physical environment can be quite dynamic, and we have experienced a range of currents (0 - ~3 kts) and water clarity (0 – ~20 m), similar to our observations at other reef sites within the Fort Pierce Sportfishing Site complex (McCallister et al. 2023). Given the uncertainties in these conditions, conducting regular field surveys at these sites can be quite challenging and potentially costly.

To overcome these challenges and serve the needs of St. Lucie County in terms of assessing the fishery value of this newer site, we are taking a more persistent-presence approach to help characterize baseline reef fish dynamics at CB-PJ reef complex. Our methods include deployments of long-term cameras/hydrophones at the site to collect critical information on the fish community and visibility dynamics, as well as to provide an opportunity to investigate boat use of these sites via acoustic signatures. Further, given that CB-PJ complex includes a ship and concrete piles, we have the opportunity to compare material effects within a site, which was not possible within a site in previous work. Coupled with opportunistic roving diver transects at the CB-PJ reef complex (strategically conducted during gear deployments and retrievals), our project will simultaneously support a comparison of stationary vs mobile survey techniques for reef fishes and help establish a workflow for future monitoring.