“Focus” is the sculpture Ross Power would like to submerge off Government Cut. Photo by Tom Brunstetter/Paradise Video and Film

Most people probably don’t know that until a few years ago there was a colorful coral reef teaming with angelfish and parrotfish in the shallow tropical waters off Third Street in Miami Beach.

Then, in early 2002, something happened that shocked and saddened local environmental activists like Luiz Rodrigues, the executive director of the Environmental Coalition of Miami Beach, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group.

“I went to snorkel and the reef was completely gone,” Rodrigues told the SunPost. “I said to myself, ‘What happened?’”

Rodrigues and others see a direct link between the reef’s decimation and a January 2002 beach re-nourishment project that pumped sand from the ocean floor to the beach in the vicinity of the South Pointe jetty. They theorize ocean currents swirling off the jetty picked up some of the new sand and dropped it on top of the coral reef, burying it. The Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management denied their claim, and offered another explanation.

“This area of the Beach (south of 10th Street) has been a ‘growing’ or accreting beach from many years,” DERM’s Communications Program Manager Luis Espinoza wrote the SunPost in an e-mail response. “It is our understanding that areas of near shore hard ground were inundated by sand as a result of shifts in the shoreline configuration caused by several tropical storms and hurricanes that impacted the area seven years ago.”

To help bring back the reef, and create new reefs, is one of the great passions of Rodrigues and his organization. With that goal in mind, Rodrigues is endorsing an eco-friendly underwater sculpture proposed for the ocean floor in an area 2.1 miles off Government Cut. If the project goes through, he’s betting it will be a catalyst for reviving the dead reef. That sculpture, which is designed to transform into a living, breathing artificial reef is still in the review process overseen by DERM.

Titled “Focus,” the stainless steel sculpture is the first in a series of seven artist Ross Power plans to affix permanently to the ocean floor in various locations around the world. Other proposed sites are the Bahamas, Mallorca, Greece, Thailand, Hawaii and California. Power believes his project will bring worldwide media attention to issues affecting oceans like pollution and reef destruction.

“Here in Miami the focus is the degradation of coral reefs,” Power told the SunPost.

The concept came to Power from an undersea installation he created in 1985 off the coast of Key Largo, “The Key Largo Undersea Art Gallery.” He submerged two large stainless steel sculptures in the ocean for one year so they would grow a natural patina from the aquatic environment. Those sculptures, “No Turning Back” and “Future Wave,” are permanently displayed on a lawn overlooking Biscayne Bay behind the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Brickell Key. While they were still underwater, Power observed fish and other marine life interacting with the sculptures, and imagined creating art that would remain forever in the sea, and actually become a part of that natural ecosystem.

What resembles a starship today will appear as a starfish tomorrow, is a slogan for the eight-foot tall by 14-foot wide “Focus.” It describes the transformation that will take place once the non-toxic eight-inch thick sculpture is secured to the ocean floor. First, algae will form and sand and other particles will stick to it. Then calcification will begin, and “barnacles, oysters and other crustaceans along with sponges, soft and hard corals will slowly change the sculpture’s appearance from starship to starfish.” It will become a source of food, as well as a habitat, for various marine inhabitants.

“Focus” is also currently on display on Brickell Key, though not in the same locations as Power’s other sculptures. The artist told the SunPost it will be moved to other undisclosed locations around Miami, with the purpose of teaching, and attracting attention.

The story of how Rodrigues and Power were introduced began when Power ran into a guy by the name of Ken English at an Art Basel Miami Beach exhibition last year. English, an independent promoter, co-founded the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce Watersports Marketing Council in 1996 and has been pushing for an artificial reef that would double as an underwater art gallery for the shallow waters off Miami Beach since the mid-’90s.

“The lifeguards are constantly asked by tourists, ‘Where do you snorkel?’ and they say, ‘You go to the keys,’” English told the SunPost. “That’s ridiculous.”

A lasting monument to English’s efforts is the underwater tequila bar just past the swim buoys due east of Nikki Beach Club. As part of a Sinko De Mayo Celebration, in 2000, the Jose Cuervo Artificial Reef was built. It sits in 20 feet of water and consists of six bar stools and a bar made of 22-tons of concrete and steel that are protected by an arc of tetrahedrons. The tequila bar was to be the first of a series of artificial reefs, until the Sept. 11 tragedy, and the resulting slowdown in tourism silenced the plan. The permit was allowed to expire.

“There was an artificial reef site off South Miami Beach that was permitted in 1997,” DERM’s Espinosa wrote the SunPost. “Due to the significant issues associated with placing materials in the near shore (e.g., high wave and current energy, and potential changes in erosion patterns), DERM did not apply to renew the permit when it expired in March of 2002.” 

But tourism is back in a big way, the Green movement is in vogue and Power’s sculpture has city officials once again talking about artificial reefs. Earlier this year, with the help of Rodrigues, Power approached Miami Beach Commissioners Michael Gongora and Saul Gross to sell them on the idea of attaching a sculpture to the ocean floor in the shallow waters in the vicinity of Marjory Stoneman Douglas Ocean Beach Park. Power promised corporate sponsors would pay for creating and installing the sculpture so there would be no cost to the city. He talked of media attention, a grand opening with an underwater ballet, video and book sales, and other hoopla. “Focus” would be a marketing dream, and a tourist magnet, Power said. In exchange all the city would have to do is pull the permits, which is no easy matter.

Both commissioners were receptive, and Gross put “Focus” on the May 16 commission meeting consent agenda, at which point it was referred to the July 25 Neighborhoods/Community Affairs Committee. Although the slide show of his works past and present and his sales pitch for the “Focus” concept were impressive, they were also confusing.

“In theory I like this project that combines the environment and art and is good for tourism,” said Gongora, a Neighborhoods/Community Affairs Committee member and chairman of the recently formed Mayor’s Green Ad-Hoc Committee.

Some of the problems with Power’s presentation, as Gongora and others saw it, were that in this year of looming budget cuts it concentrated on how Power will make money from it, and at the same time how he now wants the city to pay for the required engineering study, in addition to pulling the permits. Estimates as to the possible cost of the engineering study were thrown out in the meeting and varied widely. Public Works Department Director Fred Beckmann’s estimate was as high as $200,000, whereas Power insisted from personal experience it would be about $15,000 or $20,000.

Perhaps the biggest flaw with Power’s presentation was that committee members and some residents in the audience thought Power was still proposing to submerge “Focus” near Marjory Stoneman Douglas Ocean Beach Park. But Power learned that the permit for an artificial reef in that area expired. So he was proposing to submerge “Focus” off Government Cut — outside of Miami Beach waters. Power explained that he did not have time to redo his presentation.

“I was there out of respect for the committee because they had me on the schedule,” Power told the SunPost.

The only real public opposition to creating some sort of artificial reef south of Fifth Street came from TJ Marshall, member and representative of the Surfrider Foundation. The break behind the Marriot South Beach, at Second Street and Ocean Drive is very popular with surfers, who worry that anything placed in the water near it could affect the waves.

The committee asked Power to create a presentation specifically for what he would put off the coast of South Beach, and come back to them when he is ready.

“I’m completely focusing on ‘Focus’,” Power told the SunPost. “I realized it will take them up to two years to get that permit. I don’t have intentions to come back for a good six months to a year.”

Even if the city decides to endorse one of Power’s sculptures for the shallow waters off South Beach, there is no guarantee it will get a permit.

“Three agencies regulate artificial reef construction: the Army Corps of Engineers (federal), The Florida Department of Environment Protection (FDEP) (State), and Miami-Dade DERM (County),” Espinosa wrote the SunPost. “Experience suggests that this process can require years to complete, and occasionally, the applications are not approved.”

For more information on Focus, visit www.rosspower.com. To learn more about the underwater tequila bar visit www.sinkodemayo.com. Comments? E-mail ben@miamisunpost.com.