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Living seawall created healthy habitat
FOX 13's Kimberly Kuizon explains the project on Longboat Key that is aimed at creating a healthy habitat.
LONGBOAT KEY, Fla. - On Longboat Key you don't have to go far to find fish and a thriving ecosystem. Just look right along Bayfront Park, where it's occurring on a living sea wall.
It's a project the Town of Longboat Key started with several partners to make sure Sarasota Bay continues to thrive.
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What we know:
At Bayfront Park, a living seawall stretches 300 feet long, and this isn't an ordinary seawall – it's a vinyl seawall with concrete panels installed on top.
"One of the things we’ve seen is about 80% of shoreline is hardened with seawalls and over the last couple of years we’ve seen the older aging concrete seawalls be replaced with plastic seawalls," said Dr. David Tomasko with Sarasota Bay Estuary Program.
Why you should care:
Sarasota Bay Estuary Program said one of the biggest concerns with losing concrete seawalls, they're one of the main oyster reef habitats in Sarasota Bay – making the project vital.
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"We've done the engineering. We found it doesn’t require a complex permitting process. We know we can do it, so what we need is we need more people to do something," he said.
Dig deeper:
The project was a collaboration between the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program and design consultant Cummins Cederberg. The panels were manufactured by Kind Design and installed by Kearns Construction.
The concrete panels mirror a natural marine environment, like mangrove roots, and they provide a habitat for oyster reefs and other living organisms.
"You have your plastic seawall to protect your property, but you also have this concrete panel on the outside to give it a bit more complexity. So worms and crabs and little fish can live there, but it also allows the attachment of oysters, so you get the cleansing ability of oysters on the shoreline," said Tomasko.
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It's just one solution in an arsenal of projects that expand across Sarasota Bay.
"This project by itself will be a benefit to this stretch of the shoreline, but what we also need is more people to look at their backyards, their shorelines and say ‘hey, I want to be part of the solution,’" said Tomasko.
What's next:
Longboat Key's 'Green Team' will be working with Sarasota Bay Estuary Program and the manufacturer of the panels. They'll be doing follow-up studies to look at the impact on the Sarasota Bay.
The Source: Information was gathered from the Town of Longboat Key and the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program.