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New reef to be placed off Gordon Pass

Pyramid-shaped limestone reef modules and old concrete pylons, teeming with fish and coral, can be seen Sunday, June 25, 2017, about 15 miles west of Gordon Pass. The structures make up the Tod Sirod Reef, an artificial reef built in 2015 as part of the Paradise Coast Artificial Reef Project.

More than two years after dropping the first concrete barges to the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, the Naples area will get its newest artificial reef.

The reef — made out of 34 concrete blocks, cylinders and habitats — will be placed 17 miles out from Gordon Pass on Tuesday morning. It will be designed by Vito DiBari into the shape of a sea turtle and fit between four artificial reefs that have been created since 2015.

"Each reef is about a football field apart, and we'll put the turtle right in the middle so divers can swim from one to another," said Diane Flagg, co-chair of the county's Economic Recovery Task Force, which has overseen the artificial reef project.

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Almost as soon as the first reefs were dropped, sea life found them.

It's hard to believe how fast every type of fish, coral and sponge took to the modules, said Bill Goulding, captain of the Krakonoon charter.

Robin Ehrhardt, of Delray Beach, Fla., descends as she follows a marker buoy toward the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, June 25, 2017, roughly 3 miles west of Gordon Pass. Pyramid-shaped limestone reef modules and old concrete pylons, teeming with fish and coral, dot the Naples coastline as part of the Paradise Coast Artificial Reef Project started in 2015.

"I wish we had taken a picture of them every month," he said. "Just the difference from Day 1, when they still looked like concrete, to now is amazing. We've got small babies, huge 600-pound goliaths and everything in between."

The bottom of the Gulf looks flat and barren. Without any structure, much of the life lives inside craters of limestone in the ocean floor.

"It's like Swiss cheese," Goulding said. "So suddenly when you put in this structure, that's what draws the goliaths, cobias and barracudas."

More than 18,000 tons of concrete has been dropped as part of the project to create 36 reefs. Money for it has come from private donations and a $1.3 million economic recovery grant from BP stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The reefs range from 10 miles to 29 miles offshore and have been proven hot-spots for fishing and divers.

Pyramid-shaped limestone reef modules and old concrete pylons, teeming with fish and coral, can be seen Sunday, June 25, 2017, about 15 miles west of Gordon Pass. The structures make up the Tod Sirod Reef, an artificial reef built in 2015 as part of the Paradise Coast Artificial Reef Project.

They are all shallow enough that they haven't had many problems yet with the invasive lion fish, a voracious eater with poisonous barbs that out-competes native fish for food.

"We've seen a few lion fish, but not a lot," Goulding said. "We know they like deeper water and have been out more in the 30-mile range. They’ll make their way to the reefs eventually, I am sure."

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The plan has always been to make the 37th reef an artistic one, Flagg said.

Designer DiBari, of Italy, first contacted Flagg after reading about the project.

"We were looking for someone who was world-renowned and could draw people and tourists," Flagg said. "He has a significant draw in Europe. He said he hadn't done an underwater project yet and wanted this to be his first. We thought he was exactly the kind of person we were looking for."

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