Active Programs

The Osborne Reef tire artifical reef was approved in 1974.  This initiative has received environmental permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to remove the tires submerged on the Florida Reef Tract, place corals growing on the tires into the SFAEP maintained coral nursery, and to place uniquely designed swinging coral nursery trees at locations off Dania Beach and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea (LBTS). Onshore coral propagation/cultivation/rescue raceway tanks are also being installed at Fort Lauderdale’s new Reef Discovery Center (www.ReefCenter.org), and LBTS has also granted SFAEP permission to use their former Biorock Reef infrastructure for our Community Coral Nursery Program. This program is intended to be open to all and provide significant public outreach about our coral reefs.