HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — If you build it, they will come.

Just eight months after Ocean Rescue Alliance International deployed 50 artificial reef structures off the shores of Hollywood Beach, the underwater metropolis Guardians of the Reef, is full of life.

“We saw recruitment within 15 minutes,” said Ocean Rescue Alliance International Founder and Executive Director Shelby Thomas. “The fish, they moved in instantly.”

Local 10’s Louis Aguirre was there when the structures first went into the water last May and recently returned to check on the progress.

“The structures look completely different,” said Thomas.

Just 300 feet from shore, totally swimmable and accessible, and you don’t have to be a scuba diver. Just bring your mask and a snorkel and check out the magic.

There were fish everywhere, and the structures all had growth.

“It’s in about eight to 10 feet of water,” said Thomas. “So we have higher light availability and nutrients coming offshore. We found a boom of recruitment of sponges, different sea squirts and even soft corals.”

There are four sites to Guardians of the Reef.

This visit was to Site 3 off the beach of Harry Berry Park.

In total, there are 14 artistic sculptures and 36 habitat modules specifically designed to recruit marine life.

“The reefs have been supporting life and growing,” said Thomas. “You’ll see that reef evolve. Kind of think of it like a garden. That garden becomes diverse and begins to grow and climax with different species.”

Science teams have been closely monitoring the sites since the very beginning and have already recorded more than 20 different species of marine life either moving in or swimming by to check out the action.

“We’ve seen stingrays, which is exciting,” said Michelle Baptist, a coral monitoring fellow with Ocean Rescue Alliance International. “We’ve seen angelfish, triggerfish, who love the artificial reef. They love to guard it. Just a lot more life than in the beginning. That tells me that the fish are coming back.”

But the sites also serve a bigger purpose: to scale urgently needed coral restoration.

“We’re unfortunately losing our coral reefs at a rapid rate, and that is actual hard infrastructure that protects our coastline (and) creates complex habitat to support fisheries, and so at a baseline, as that habitat’s degrading, we’re really needing to rebuild it,” said Thomas.

These engineered structures weigh anywhere from 10 to 15 thousand pounds each. They are made of marine-safe concrete that has a higher density than the calcium carbonate of coral skeletons.”

“We have the opportunity to create that foundation, really for the corals, give them a 100-year head start,” said Thomas. “Build up that reef relief with the artificial reef, and then can help assist bringing corals into better areas where they can grow in this current climate.”

The goal is to eventually outplant corals grown in labs onto the structures, which are already outfitted with coral locks to make the process easy enough for the general public to pitch in.

“We’re aiming to put soft corals out at this site, just because it’s (in) such close proximity to shore,” said Thomas. “We’re going to make this a really big study, to look at the feasibility of moving corals northward and getting community engagement.”

And already the sites are attracting tourists and ocean lovers from all over.

“It was really, really cool and I loved seeing the fish,” said Melinda Michaels, a tourist from Ocala. “There was lots of variety out there and it was an easy swim once I found it.”

And that is the goal, to make ocean lovers out of all who visit the sites so that they, too, become guardians of the reef and step up to protect it.

“The most rewarding part is seeing people enjoying it and really connecting with the ocean,” said Thomas. “Until you really connect people back to nature and create that relationship, we’re not going to create a sustained change.”

Besides educational groups, ORA is also hosting free events twice a month for the public to come out.

The program starts with beach yoga, meditation and breath work, a short talk on marine life, and then they bring you into the water for a guided snorkel experience.

It is beautiful down there.

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