Getting Involved

Gulf Coast Crustacean Research

Getting Involved

Not everyone wants to get involved in the same way. On this page we present different options to encourage others to get involved in our cause. For example:

Volunteer Your Time

Hey you can do your part anytime - and here is the best part: it is an excuse to go to the beach!

Next time you are out there walking on the beach gather up the corals and sponges and put them in a calm area of the intercoastal that has reasonable water movement. Placement should be below the lowest low tide mark you know and shallow enough that they will get sunlight. Also it is preferable to put them on or around porous rocks. Simple as that.

Wanna be lazy, Hey just chuck 'em back in the water on the beach side - gives them a lot better chance than if you leave them to dry out.

For Marina Owners

If you own a marina there are a couple of different ways you can help.

Probably the best way is to take the old bait tanks you quit using and put them back online. Make sure they are pumping water in from the basin or waterway and that the outflow is directly going back in the water (not over the rocks and down as we have seen a lot of you do).

Remove Permanently the lids from the tanks. Now fill the bottom with 8-10 inches of just plain old silica sand or beach sand. add in a few fossilized coral or limestone rocks. Go on Ebay and buy native Florida species corals - Florida Ricordia Mushrooms are generally there chaep enough and 50 is more than enough to get you started. Put the corals in the tank and just spend the 20 bucks a month or so on electric. What will happen is that as the corals grow and propogate, there will be loose young polyps that will go through your outflow and propogate in your basin or waterway.

If you are starting to wonder how this helps you - the answers are simple:

1. Within a year or so you will have an attactive basin that people will like to look at. In the marina business attraction is everything and we all know that. The soft corals are generally filter feeders and will help clear up at least your basins water making it far more attractive to your patrons. The first thing they will notice is that what is in the water is "pretty" this subliminally and without breaking any laws...encourages them to be in the water - sells more gas and parts for you. Word of mouth gets around.

2. You can have crappy buildings - people will notice the water and think it is quaint that you have "authentic old Florida" buildings - clean water with pretty, soft corals goes a long way towards making your flaws less noticeable.

3. If you have people at your tables/resturaunt, even just hanging around the dock, once the old guys figure out what you are up to, they will help by vocalizing even more. In todays "Eco-conscious" world, this will give you a lot higher standing in not just the boating community but in your local area as well.

Want to take it a step further? Want to make it really pay off for both you and the environment? Read on.....

Put up say a large 4'x4'x8' (1100 gallon) tank as a display and a couple of 2' tall long tanks, anywhere along your seawall or docks where your customers can see them.

Put in a good, thick layer of sand and some cheap chunks of good old fashioned Alabama Limestone.

Make sure the tanks are acrilyc or carbonized lexan (under 2 grand for 1 large and the 2 shallow tanks) .

Get out your color printer and put up a poster of Florida Soft corals that people can gather readily from beach wash up. Explain on the poster that you are rescuing the Corals to re-populate our waterways and therefore make Florida beautiful again.

As people bring in the injured corals, get pictures of which ones heal well, and don't let them add sea Squirts (put a note that those should just be returned to the water or they will over-run your system) Update the poster as you go along.

Make a contest out of it - even offer prizes for the biggest or rarest - perhaps add labels to the big tank representing which person or team brought in which one - folks love recognition.

Again you are recieving the same benefits to the environment and your business as mentioned above but you have just cranked up the fuel and part sales to the next level (albeit sporadically as partcipation does vary). Plus you have the added benefit of an extra attraction for your resturaunt/bar on the water. People love contests even if the prize is worth less than 5 bucks, they will spend thousands just to win - it is human nature. In this scenario you have engaged participation which makes them feel like they are a part of the marina and that instill long-lasting customer loyalty which pays off nicely in the long term.

If you are looking for short term instant gratification, order in a couple of thousand Florida Species Soft Corals from Ebay or your favorite vendor and plant them in your basin. If you are unsure how to plant them or need assistance, call Todd at 941-497-3580 after 6pm and be willing to either cover the gas for his boat or come fetch him (he does not drive on land). He will evaluate your basin, suggest what species to buy and find them for you from whatever sources there are - he makes nothing from nor is associated with any vendor, in fact hunts based on prices per only. When your corals come in, he will be more than happy to plant them for you. He will locate them as strategically as possible for maximum benefit to your basin and clarity of water based on the flow of your basin. He does not charge but maybe you kick him some ancient piece of dead marine electronics toplay with or some old hull you were going to scrap anyway.

For People With Docks on the Water

Do you want to help the environment and increase the value of your property at the same time? Do you want to make your property more attractive to your family, friends and yourself? If so read on.....

The first situation we will cover is if your dock is in use:

Now this can be done without risking damage to your hull.

Plant large limestone or fossilized coral rocks under your dock! You can use large enough chunks that even the biggest boat will not "Prop Wash" them out. So now you are asking "How is that going to help?"

Simple this gives soft and hard corals a place to attach. Granted unless you populate the rocks initially with Florida ZoeAnthids, or Ricordia which can take a bit less light you are likely to be overrun with Aiptasia (Anemones) or Seasquirts or both but even those help our waterways in that they are filter feeders and attract smaller fish. Bonus Item with the rocks is that they do indeed encourage young fish to hang out and the Limestone seems to attract an inordinate number of Blennies and Gobies as well as several smaller species of Trunkfish (puffers) such as the spotted/lepoerd trunkfish and particularly Great Horned Puffers. It is a good foundation for Corraline algea as is the fossilized coral and provides a home for all the micro-crustaceans we need to clean up the waterways with. Beneficial bacteria in the rocks will come over a short time and help feed other life in the waterways. You have just turned unused spaceunder your dock into a valid micro-reef which will be attractive to look at even when it is still in just the rock stages.

Say your dock is in use but you have a couple of poles off to one side and you don't use any of your water space beyond the poles...... Put in a low rock wall that will remain below the lowest tides and you have your own personal mini reef to look at - the more porous the rocks and the higher they are in calcium content, the better and quicker results you will see. Now in this situation you have plenty of light available and that means that you can get as exotic as you like with the corals you plant on them - bear in mind 2 things - it is against the law to introduce a non-native species into Florida waters and secondarily, anything you plant will grow way faster than it does in your Aquarium. There are literally tons of Florida species corals available through various vendors and the propogation (growth/spread) rates vary but you can pick the ones that suit your personal tastes. Remeber - the 1 coral you plant this year is liable to be 30 or 40 or hundreds next year (depending on species).

Now for anyone with a dock or seawall that is looking to help the environment and give something attractive to the dock or seawall, here is a really neat idea. add Acrylic, shallow tanks pumped in from the waterway and exhausting back into the waterway.

Even just one tank with a good sand bed and some cheap porous rock such as Limestone, Fossilized Coral or even colored Man-made Lava Rock; When planted with soft Mushroom corals or Florida ZoeAnthids will be an attractive piece at the end of your dock - on the side of your dock you don't use - somewhere in the seating area of your "T-dock". This gives you an attractive addition to your dock and at the same time helps the environment in that not only do the corals in the tank help the water, as the corals grow and propogate; the smaller polyps will go into the waterway and therefore help to repopulate Florida waters to where our children or grand-children will one day see the nice, pretty waters some of us grew up with. Same situation with a seawall and niether are limited to one tank. If you use a pump big enough for one tank, you can daisy chain as many of the same size tanks together as you like and make a very attractive partition wall with tons of life to look at for years to come.

Now you may ask "What about algea?" Correct it does grow but there are 2 ways you can handle it:

1 the magnetic tank cleaners from the pet stores and about 15 minutes every other month per tank cleaning time

or:

2 put in Malaysian Snails, Cerith snails, other snails, reef friendly Urchins such as Pencil Urchins and of course good old fashioned Ghost Shrimp and let them do the cleanup work for you!

Now in the situation where you dont have a seawall or a dock but still want to help the environment and your property value at the same time, put in a low rock wall with loose rocks made from any of the porous type rocks I have mentioned above. Same procedure, only you will want to make it to where it is attractive to look at - perhaps shapes and caves, perhaps visible from your seating area. That is up to you to decide.

If you need assistance in designing your system give Todd a call at 941-497-3580 after 6pm any night and he will be happy to help you. As long as you cover his gas, he will be glad to hop in the boat and come evaluate your particular situation, make recommendations and even locate suppliers for corals appropriate to what you are trying to achieve. Or just go grab him (he does not drive on land) and he will be happy to help - no charge but if you kick him something for his time it will be donated to keep our project going.

Make a Donation

Now we are not an NPO, we are just some retired old farts doing our part to help Florida waters get back to looking good like they did when we were kids. If you want to make a cash or check or other donation in any amount or type they can be sent to:

Gulf Coast Crustacean Research

791 Porpoise Rd

Venice, Fl 34293

We are Constantly are looking for old junk boats that we will either use or give to homeless people to live on or just to anyone who wants them if they are not liveable. Those vessels we tow out that are just plain junk, we try to clean up, remove anything that could contain gas, oil or chemical residue and tow them out of US waters where they are sunk and become artificial reefs (yup fiberglass boats can be used too).

We are desperately in need of any diesel craft that is large enough that we can use it rather than our Gas engine Skiff which we currently use to provide free towing services to those who cannot afford SeaTow or BoatUS - It needs to be less than 3ft draft. Our intention is to add Drop Poles to the back and a winch which we will use to pull people off of sandbars and grassflats with. Rather than commit Felony Prop Dredging like SeaTow and BoatUS do. This will help preserve the grassflats and sandbars. Every time regular towboats Prop Dredge your boat off of a grassflat, they do damage to literally hundreds of feet of grassflat which takes YEARS to recover.

If we can lay our hands on an old shrimp or fishing trawler, the draft would not matter in that our method at that point would be to drop the booms with 1 or 2 ton blocks at the end of those cables and then winch the stranded vessels off - doing far less damage than we see companies such as SeaTow and BoatUS causing every single day - don't count on Law Enforcement to do anything about them either....just aint gonna happen.

We are always in need of Tanks, Glass or Acrylic. Some we use, some we give away. we do not sell any tanks donated. Someone uses them even if it is not us. Wanna brighten a kids day? Wanna see an old man or woman smile let us give them your old tank with some seahorses or starfish in it!

We are always scrunging for pumps and 20,000k Metal Halide or Compact Flourescent lighting as well. Buckets of any type of fish or coral foods are always welcome.

Any and all items can be sent to the addresse above and while we are not filing an NPO you can rest assured that we are still doing good for the waterways in any way we can and as often as we can.