Chesney spearheads artificial reef project

Country music superstar Kenny Chesney helped to have an artificial reef installed on the ocean floor just off Delray Beach.

Chesney’s No Shoes Reefs organization, along with other marine groups, donated and installed 13 so-called goliath reef balls, according to a news release announcing the initiative.

The reef balls, each a 10,000pound concrete structure shaped like a giant thimble and pocked with holes like Swiss cheese, were installed on the seabed a half mile off the beach earlier this month in a place known as the Delray Dredge Hole, according to No Shoes Reefs.

According to No Shoes Reefs, the Delray Dredge Hole is a “pre-permitted artificial reef site roughly 0.35-mile long by 0.13-mile wide” and the reef balls mark the start of the development of a 32-acre underwater reef park at the site.

The underwater reef will be known as No Shoes Reef 4.

The hope is that the reef will do two things: spur the growth of coral and become an ecosystem teeming with fish and other marine life and encourage diving and fishing in the area.

“Love the water, give back to the water,” Chesney said in a statement. “Many people don’t realize both how fragile and resilient the ocean’s ecosystems are, and I think it’s the small projects that raise awareness on local levels that help people understand the ocean is a living thing.”

Other organizations involved in the reef ’s development include the Coastal Conservation Association Florida, Palm Beach County Environmental Resources Management, Sandoway Discovery Center, Reef Ball Foundation, Building Conservation Trust and Global SubDive, whose Go America vessel lowered the reef balls into the water.