We came to the conclusion that one of the best things we could do moving forward would be to concentrate on education and raising the awareness of the general public about the importance of artificial reefs, natural reefs and what’s going on in our world in terms of sea rise and resiliency. — Rob Wyre, chairman of Shipwreck Park
session that was held after the sinking of the Lady Luck, said Wyre. “We realized that deploying artificial reefs was good for the environment,” said Wyre. “It attracted a lot of attention, but it was really only visible to divers and fishermen.” “We came to the conclusion that one of the best things we could do moving forward would be to concentrate on education and raising the awareness of the general public about the importance of artificial reefs, natural reefs and what’s going on in our world in terms of sea rise and resiliency,” said Wyre. Wahoo Bay will have a particular focus on educating youth “because they are the ones that are inheriting this world,” said Wyre. The marine park will be a place where students can come on scheduled field trips to have an underwater educational experience. The target group is students in grades K-12. “We want to get them involved at an early age to make sure they understand how important the underwater habitat is to our everyday life, from the reef system to our shorelines, to the mangroves that create a first line of resiliency,” said Tom DiGiorgio, chairman of the Economic Development Council of Pompano Beach, and a board member of Shipwreck Park. Creation of the marine park includes installation of an innovative modular shoreline protection system, called SEAHIVE, which was developed by the University of Miami. The plan for SEAHIVE at Wahoo Bay is to construct six, 20-foot-long modules in
the water along the existing seawall. Each module would consist of 36 perforated hexagonal tubes, with mangroves planted on top, providing an eco-friendly environment for marine life. The SEAHIVE will also protect infrastructure and the environment from flooding, erosion and impact from waves.. The SEAHIVE elements, made with seawater concrete and non-corrosive reinforcements, allow water flow under surging or breaking
waves, dissipating the wave energy within the elements. The SEAHIVE at Wahoo Bay will be one of the University of Miami’s first applications of the system. Experts from the University of Miami will help with the planting of the mangroves in the SEAHIVE, and will study their performance. Mangroves are a vital component of the JUNE 2021 • pointpubs.com
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