You might think a fish that weighed in at 800 pounds ought to be able to take care of itself.

You might also be willing to make a hefty wager that railroads and concrete would make as much of a contribution to the future of Florida fishing as snowfall and asteroid dust.

And you'd be just as likely to bet the farm with some wise guy when he boasted that nearly 4,000 tons of clean fill completely changed one aspect of the fishing environment in some parts of South Florida.

Well, guess what? You're in for a few surprises.

First, that 800-pounder, formerly called the jewfish, now called the Goliath grouper, has been an endangered species since 1991.

The good news is thanks to the foresighted and persistent work by the Sebastian Inlet Sportfishing Association, a series of new artificial reefs—constructed with concrete railroad ties—the goliath grouper is on the way back.

Little by little, if you can use that phrase in reference to a fish that can weigh about as much as a Buick.

This is big—naturally—news in fishing circles. You can still go to a State of Florida website and read a wistful entry about the nearly lost species:

"Historically, they were abundant in very shallow water," it read. "(They were) often associated with piers and jetties along the Florida Keys and southwest coast of Florida. They are no longer abundant in these shallow areas."

So far.

But thanks to a series of seven artificial reefs, constructed off the coast of east central Florida in the past five years, scientists who correctly anticipated that putting together complex, hard-substrate habitats and spreading them across the sandy plain of the ocean bottom off the coast would attract a wide-ranging assortment of fish.

As they put it, "these reefs would support a diverse and abundant fish fauna." What the scientists wondered was, would the way these fish flock to the reefs make them more susceptible to fishermen?

PICKING THE LOCATION

After obtaining permits issued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, the reefs were placed at the designated sites 10 to 14 miles east of Sebastian Inlet, near Fort Pierce. Three were constructed in the summer of 1999, four more in the summer of 2000.

The artificial reefs were constructed out of 1,500 concrete railroad ties, each one 15 feet long. The ties were removed from railway beds of the Florida East Coast Railway during track maintenance operations.

After many years of exposure to Florida's unpredictable weather, the ties had been designated as Clean Fill and were ticked for a landfill until there came a higher (actually lower) calling. In all, a total of 10,500 ties—3,765 tons-worth—were used for the project.

The Florida East Coast Railroad donated the use of their transport to the loading dock in Fort Pierce. To construct them, a barge that carried 1,500 ties was precisely anchored at a three-point mooring over the proposed site.

Using a forklift, 6 to 8 ties were dropped over the side of the barge, thereby constructing a very complex reef habitat, exactly what they wanted. They were quite precise. For example, the water depth had to be at least 70 feet, on a sandy ocean bottom that was at least four miles from a naturally hard substrate surface and almost a mile (0.7) away from any other reef.

The random piling of the ties as they fell from the barge resulted in a stable, interlocked pile with all sizes of niches, exactly the habitat desired.

The good news was the fish took to the reefs quickly, developing a diverse and abundant assortment of fish. More good news came when studies showed that Goliath groupers were more prevalent in the three-year study. Other popular fish that were present were Gag grouper and Mangrove snapper.

Interestingly, black sea bass and sheepshead, who were very common at first, became more scarce the longer the reef was there.

FISHERMAN FIND HEAVEN

Naturally, fishermen were quick to fish the reefs. Many schools of baitfish lured the fishermen in and continue to attract them. While most fishermen use bait and line to catch baitfish, the reef's complex structure made fishing for gag and snapper more practical with spears and power heads.

It didn't take anglers long to find where the fish were congregating. In fact, when members of the SISA talked with a few veterans in the Fort Pierce area, one fisherman interviewed while catching baitfish above one of the reefs thought the reef was his secret private location.

According to members of the SISA organization, the fish around the four reefs will be most vulnerable to sport and commercial divers who can target individual fish.

Dive stores in Melbourne and Vero Beach report that their clients have indeed speared grouper and snapper on some of the reefs. Not Goliath Grouper. Not yet. But the future looks a heck of a lot brighter than it did five years ago. All thanks to some ingenuity, several tons of railroad ties and a bunch of sportfish aficionados who had a hunch they could make a difference.

You don't have to be a Goliath grouper to say good for them.