oldsalt wrote: ↑Fri Aug 11, 2023 9:10 am
My wife commented on the new breakwater as we departed Point Hudson last weekend. I wondered about the effect on the benthos.
There's a big team of people organizing this: WDFW, the port, the jetty contractor, Port Townsend Marine Science Center, the Maritime Center, the city of PT, REEF, a bunch of divers, and probably more organizations at the state and federal level. The amount of consensus and cooperation between all stakeholders has been amazing. That cooperation continues.
When the new jetty was proposed, the design was, well, dismal, and there was no accommodation for replacing habitat. Since then the entire design has been changed and the results, I think, are better than any of us could have hoped. A year or two from now the new jetty and reef may be even better than before.
Things that are still in the works, not definite yet but broadly supported:
- Extending the new reef deeper and wider using the rock from the old south jetty.
- A sculpture at depth as a diver destination
- MPA? There is talk.
The nearby docking dolphin, a.k.a. the Cathedral, may need to be removed in future years, so that will be a minus. Seeing how much the support pilings have rotted, however, I'm surprised it's still standing after last winter's storms. It's gotta go.