Siesta residents start project to clean Grand Canal

More than 20 homeowners have signed on to place mini reefs under their docks to filter water and support marine life.

Siesta Key residents are starting an effort to clean out Grand Canal, which, since its opening in 1925, has faced murky waters, fish kills and sewage spills.

Members of the Siesta Key Association began a pilot program that asks homeowners who live along the canal to install mini reefs under their docks to help attract marine life that would naturally filter and add oxygen to the water.

The Grand Canal covers 89 acres over 9 miles, and members of SKA hope to eventually have reefs installed throughout. For now, though, they are focusing efforts near the opening of the canal in Siesta Key Circle.

The project consists of 21 homeowners who have agreed to install mini reefs below their docks. The goal is to eventually have 80 locations in the project.

The reefs are 3 feet wide, 2 feet deep and 2 feet tall with four shelves to passively attract sea life, with the idea to provide similar marine-life benefits to mangroves.

Once it’s fully established, each mini reef can support around 300 fish and 200 crabs per year.