Many beaches along the coastline of the gulf have pieces of structure left over from when structures were removed.  You will find cement and wood piling along much of the coastline from old piers and jetties.  Less frequent are completely submerged and unmarked structure along the beach.  In Northern Pinellas county there is a beach called north lot.  At this beach there is a submerged jetty that has been there since I started consistently surfing cold fronts in 2000.  This jetty extends about 100 yards into the gulf of mexico and is completely submerged.  It is a very popular spot for fishing, because it has a thriving fish population throughout the majority of the year.  This jetty not only houses mature fish species, it also is an extensive living reef, housing hard corals, juvenile fish, black urchins, live rock, crabs, et cetera.

     This jetty is being threatened by a project which has been initiated a few weeks ago.  The plan must include the removal or reorganization(destruction) of this reef for the plan to be completed, because the sand and the t-groins have been planned to go directly where the jetty sits.  T-groin 3 will replace the existing fish and coral habitat.       This is concerning because of the significance of this jetty.  The wellbeing of the fish, mammal, and coral species in the area are extremely important.  Protecting the fish and coral  populations is vital for the area and an important part of protecting the them includes protecting their habitat.  This effort is so important, many people and organizations have formed to protect these natural resources.  The Clearwater Marine Aquarium houses a full staff of people whos purpose is the protection of our marine environment through marine science.   They have staff who work 24 hours a day 7 days a week, prepared to rescue marine creatures.  The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission takes an important role in protecting our marine creatures.  There is an artificial reef program to conserve marine habitat.  There are extensive shoreline regulations that protect mangrove and natural shoreline habitat.  This organization works to preserves many areas of grass flat habitat (as this is one of the places where baby fish hide from predators while they grow to maturity).   I am concerned that because this jetty is submerged and unmarked, and because the jetty is not visible on almost every low tide except some winter low tides, this living reef was not considered when the renourishment plans were written. Does the destruction of this reef matter? Do the hard corals and the fish species who call this reef home really matter?  Should we just be more excited for the economic and stability benefits the renourishment will have on the quickly deteriorating beach?
Feel free to email your thoughts and ideas to the  email editor@surfingthegulf.com