‘It’s pretty impressive’: 2 artificial reef sites near Murrells Inlet get new structure
The partnership between the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Coastal Conservation Association South Carolina has been a boon to the state’s Marine Artificial Reef Program, and two of the program’s oldest and most popular artificial reef sites, both located adjacent to the south end of the Grand Strand, are among the recipients of new structure.
On Wednesday, a decommissioned shrimp trawler, the Seahorse, was placed on Permitted Area 10 (PA-10), well known as the Ten-Mile Reef, located 9.5 nautical miles southeast of the Murrells Inlet jetties.
A new reef, the Connie Kogovsek Memorial Reef, will be established on the Paradise Reef site, or PA-09, located 3.2 miles east-southeast of the south jetty at Murrells Inlet. Bob Martore, Artificial Reef Coordinator for S.C. DNR, said the reef will be put in place the week after Thanksgiving, weather permitting.
The trawler placed on the Ten-Mile Reef marks the fifth reef drop this year and the second in the last month that S.C. DNR and CCA SC have partnered on.
“That’s a total of 17 we’ve done (in the last 10 years), it’s pretty impressive,” said Scott Whitaker, Executive Director of CCA SC. “The goal is to put new material on all 43 reef sites (in the program) by 2030.”
Martore says the contributions of CCA SC has been a huge boost to the artificial reef program. S.C. DNR holds the permits for the reef sites and handles the material, but CCA SC assists with the considerable cost.
“CCA (South Carolina) has been sharing the cost with us,” said Martore. “We probably did the first project with them 20 years ago but when Scott became executive director (in 2000) he really became interested in reef building. It’s been 15 years since we’ve worked regularly with them. They’ve essentially doubled what we’ve been able to do reef-project wise. (CCA South Carolina) has been a tremendous help for us.”
Ten-Mile Reef
The Ten-Mile Reef, a one-square mile reef site, was established in 1982 in depths of 45 feet.
While the shrimp trawler is the latest addition to the Ten-Mile Reef, there are a couple of other reefs within the permitted area include the Bruce Rush Reef and Jim Kidd Reef.
The trawler had been out of use and sat on land in the Charleston area for years. The vessel was hauled to Georgetown where a contractor took on the task of cleaning it and repairing the hull so it could be safely towed to the reef site. Sea Hunt Boat Company was a partner in the deployment of the trawler.
Martore said a load of assorted concrete structure was also dropped on the reef.
The Connie Kogovsek Memorial Reef
The Connie Kogovsek Memorial Reef is named in honor of the late wife of Garden City Bait and Tackle owner Bob Kogovsek, who put the process to establish the reef in motion after she passed away unexpectedly on April 17.
Known by their friends and customers as Bob and Connie Kay, the couple operated the bait shop on U.S. Hwy. 17 Business in Garden City for 16 years, and Bob continues to operate the business in her absence.
The reef will be established on the Paradise Reef site (PA-09), which is one-half square mile in size and already has the original reef plus the H.P. Springs Jr. Reef, Grand Strand Saltwater Anglers Reef, Winston Perry Memorial Reef and the Bob Hanson Reef on it.
Paradise Reef, first established in 1975, is one busy site and has a variety of structure on the various reefs.
“It may have been one of the very first (reefs) built with the program here,” said Martore. “There’s a lot of stuff out there. As much as it looks like there is out there, you still have to motor around to find things. There’s a lot of real estate left to fill.”
The centerpiece of the Connie Kogovsek Memorial Reef will be a four-foot tall square box that has a plaque attached to it in her memory. Martore said the new reef will also feature more concrete structure including culvert pipe (36-48 inches in diameter) and four-foot square junction boxes.