NEAR SHORE REEFS: An old freighter finds new life as 
marine habitat. We explain ahead on Passport to Texas. 

This is Passport to Texas

The Gulf of Mexico bustles with marine life with no place 
to call home because the floor of the gulf is ... 

01 -- Mainly mud and sand.

Dale Shively, with the artificial reef program at Texas 
Parks and Wildlife, says using a variety of materials, the 
agency creates hard substrate, habitat, for these species.

10 -- By putting down concrete, or steel, or a ship - that gives 
these organisms a place to attach and to grow. And then from 
there, they create this reef environment ... 

The reef attracts fish, thus improving angling and diving 
opportunities. In Mid-September, TPW sunk the freighter 
Kinta in 77 feet of water, 8 miles off the coast of Corpus 
Christi. Shively explains what makes a ship right for a 
location.

12 -- We want a ship that's complex and that has a lot of interest 
to divers, and would be beneficial for marine life. [It needs to 
be] clean of environmental hazards, but of the right size to fit in 
particular reef sites.

The Kinta fit the bill, and has a new home on the gulf 
floor, where marine life has already discovered it.

20 -- Divers have gone down just a few hours after it was on the 
bottom and saw fish -so they found a home immediately. But as 
far as organisms actually growing and attaching to it, that will 
take a few months. But I would say in six months it will be 
pretty well covered, and within a year you have a pretty 
significant reef.

The WSFR program supports our series. 

For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti. 


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