Reef-X | SCETV Series & Specials

Kaltura

A program through which decommissioned military equipment is cleaned, carefully prepared, and then placed in the ocean bed to build reefs off the coast of Beaufort, South Carolina.

"Artificial" reefs have been used in South Carolina for many years to increase the amount of available productive ocean bottom, and enhance saltwater fishing and recreational diving opportunities. Adding the decommissioned equipment assists nature by providing hard surfaces that enable barnacles, sponges, corals, and other organisms to attach, and a variety of species of fish will eventually transform the substrate, provided by the military equipment, into a living reef.

This is the story of how federal and state government, and some very dedicated individuals brought this program into existence and made it such a success. The program continues today just off of the South Carolina coast. (Produced in 1998)