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Pilot Oyster Reef Project For Nutrient Removal And Habitat Restoration <br /> The Indian River Lagoon(Lagoon)is one of the most diverse coastal ecosystems in the continental <br /> U.S. Recent changes in the density and distribution of seagrass communities have negatively <br /> affected potential habitat and refugia for select invertebrates and juvenile fish species in the Indian <br /> River (River) section of the Lagoon between the C.R. 510 Bridge and the S.R. 60 Bridge. Such <br /> changes,if persistent,may eventually negatively influence fisheries in this section of the River. <br /> Changes in water quality conditions may be linked to decreased seagrass occurrence between the two <br /> bridges. Indian River County (IRC) constructed the Spoonbill Marsh (SBM) in part to remove <br /> nutrients directly from the River. This nutrient removal is accomplished by pumping water from the <br /> River to a static mixer on the SBM site where it is blended with demineralization concentrate from <br /> the North County Water Treatment Plant and then discharged into SBM. The blended water then <br /> flows through the SBM and eventually back into the River. <br /> An oyster colony has been developing in SBM since the project went on-line in August 2010. Water <br /> quality conditions in the River have had no negative effect on the oyster population in SBM,In fact, <br /> oyster are now distributed throughout the SBM and provide potential habitat and refugia for many <br /> invertebrate and juvenile fish species. SBM now supports a significant population of Snook, Red <br /> Drum,Mangrove Snapper, and blue crabs. <br /> • This project proposes to construct a small oyster reef in the River that would be similar to the one <br /> developing in the SBM. The oyster reef in the SBM has not been negatively affected by the water <br /> quality conditions in the River over the past two years. Therefore, the proposed oyster reef is not <br /> expected to be influenced by similar water quality conditions. <br /> The purpose of the proposed oyster reef is to improve water quality conditions in the Indian River <br /> and to provide potential habitat and refugia for invertebrate and juvenile fish species. The <br /> occurrence of these species within the boundaries of the oyster reef is expected to attract larger game <br /> fish to the site. The proposed oyster reef also is expected to remove nutrients from the River and <br /> from the FDOT ditch discharging to the River at a point adjacent to the northeast corner of the SBM <br /> site <br /> The proposed oyster reef would be approximately 0.25 acres (0.10 Ha.) in size and located just to <br /> the northeast of SBM off the FDOT ditch located along the northern boundary of SBM, see Figure <br /> 1. The base of the oyster reef will be formed by 2.0 ft.by 4.0 ft. 18 gauge wire mesh panels that will <br /> be pinned to the sediments. Concrete rubble will be stacked on top of the wire mesh base. The size <br /> concrete rubble will generally range from 0.5 ft. to 2.0 ft. pieces that will be hand stacked to form <br /> discrete clusters that range in size from approximately 4.0 fie to 25 ft'in diameter. The clusters will <br /> be randomly interspersed through the project area with approximately 2.0 ft.to 2.5 ft. of bare sand <br /> between the clusters, see Figure 2. <br /> Page 1 of 2 <br /> 83 <br />