By Rita L. Sherwood
We all love living in Destin, as it’s a special place because of the gorgeous turquoise waters of the Gulf and the stunning sugar sand white beaches. But what do we as locals do to keep the water and our beaches clean and free of trash?
Alex Fogg, Coastal Resource Manager for the Destin and Ft. Walton Beach Okaloosa County Tourism Development Council, explains, “Maintaining clean and healthy waterways around Destin is important not only to locals and visitors who use them every day, but also for all of the critters that live in and around these waters. Without healthy waters, our area would not be the destination that it is.”
Alex goes on to say that one of the most important tasks the council has taken on is implementing artificial reefs for habitats for our local species of fish. Most recently in July, they deployed “The Brannon,” a 65’ catamaran, which they sunk in 190’ of water, 16 miles southwest of the East Pass in Destin. This created an artificial reef for not only fishing and diving for both locals and tourists, but also as a habitat for commercial and recreational fish we all enjoy eating, including amberjack, red snapper, grouper and more.
Back in May, the council also deployed a 93’ military vessel, “Big Dawg,” southwest about 15 miles from East Pass and sunk it in 105’ of water. As a different approach, they also sunk 62 prefabricated artificial reef modules shaped like pyramids, 14 miles from East Pass. These pyramids are specifically designed to be artificial reef habitats for marine life.
By implementing these two different kinds of artificial reefs, Alex says they’re not only promoting ecotourism, but also taking care of our local species of fish—ensuring they have plenty of underwater habitats.
But it doesn’t stop there. Alex says his organization also conducts biannual beach cleanup events, and works with the community to install sand fencing and plant vegetation to stabilize sand dunes. This protects the upland structures, but also provides essential habitats to a number of different species. They are also involved with the clean removal of derelict (sinking) vessels around our waterways, and are partnered with organizations on projects to benefit the Choctawhatchee Bay, such as living shorelines, water quality monitoring, and coastal zone improvements. Lastly, they are conducting marine debris removal events, and also working to develop more frequent activities to clean up local reefs.
Alex states, “Partnering with local organizations to keep Destin beautiful is an opportunity we need to continue to explore. Recent partnerships have proved to be extremely effective and the opportunity for additional collaborations are endless.”
Many of us locals have done our part to keep Destin beautiful with volunteering to clean up the beach, but have you ever thought to donate a tree? Bobby Wagner from Trees on the Coast has done just that, and has even done the preliminary work for us. It’s called the “Honor Tree” program and it raises money in a self-sustainable way. Bobby has done the leg work and has permits for the locations to plant trees all around Destin, and has streamlined the process online. To honor a loved one for a special occasion like a birth or anniversary, or to commemorate someone’s death, why not plant a tree? You can go online to treesonthecoast.com to Bobby’s “Honor Tree” page and do so. It’s available for Okaloosa and Walton counties, and each “Honor Tree” comes with a displayed plaque. “I’m excited to come up with a way to improve our city without raising our taxes. This program literally pays for itself,” says Bobby.
Bobby also spearheads the Divers Down Pollution Project, a team of six professional divers who volunteer and donate their time to remove trash from our local waterways. He explains that the city of Destin is currently in a gridlock at the Harbor, and has no plan to clean and sustain the waterways by keeping them free of trash. He says there has to be a movement from local businesses to agree to not using plastic straws and cups, and to create awareness of all the trash they collect. Brendan, a fellow friend and diver, has the saying, “Say no to the straw man,” which they are hoping will catch on.
Currently, Diver’s Delight in Niceville donates all of their air to dive, and local residents usually donate their boat for the day. All six divers have their own equipment and pay for their own gas. They are trying to acquire a pontoon boat now, and Bobby would like to put out a call to action, that if anyone would like to donate their boat permanently, that’d be great!
Divers Down also organizes a beach cleanup the second Sunday of every month. The next one coming up is on Sunday, August 14th at Norriego Point. To find out more information, join their Facebook group page The Divers Down Pollution Project.
We can all do our part to keep Destin beautiful. How will you get involved? Stay tuned for next month’s Part 2 on Keeping Destin Beautiful.
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