PALM BEACH, Fla. — 55 artificial reefs were deployed on Monday off the coast of Palm Beach as part of a new project called 1,000 Mermaids.
"1,000 Mermaids is a artificial reef project. A 55-module artificial reef deployment," said Stacey Brown with the Ocean Rescue Alliance. "We’re creating artificial reef modules to make more habitat on the sandy bottom."
"They actually arrived at the port on Friday morning," said Yaremi Farinas with the Port of Palm Beach. "They were received by Port Tenant Heavy Lift Services and Gulf Stream Line."
Farinas said the artificial reefs weigh anywhere from 1,700 to 3,500 pounds.
"Artificial reefs are important because they help increase the habitat available to fish and other creatures," Brown said. "And we also have the capability to put coral locks on them, which allows us to output coral so we can do coral restoration."
Brown said Ocean Rescue Alliance is going county by county to try to install as many reefs as they can.