Tineal De La Cruz
Leah Braun
St. John's University
Charles Wankel
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Captain Monty ensures constant efforts are being taken to re-reef the Mid-Atlantic seafloor. This includes over 32,000 reef blocks, steel boats, and various donated items. Every effort at reef building, regardless of size, has increased Maryland’s marine habitat footprint, which has aided in making many fisheries more sustainable.
As Captain Monty and his colleagues set off for sea, they ensure their fishing trips are not in vein. Thus, each trip, they deploy concrete pyramid blocks in permitted locations where coral has been destroyed and might be restored or where the greatest benefit can be had by growing new hardbottom reef habitats. Captain Monty began dropping concrete blocks in 2008 with a small grant of two pallets of 'oyster castle blocks' from The Nature Conservancy. After 10,000 oyster castles, the price per-truckload shot up and he sought "off inventory" blocks from block manufacturers of all shapes and sizes. As of November 2020, the Morning Star's crew and clients have loaded and deployed over 32,100 blocks.
By 1974, it was clear that hard-bottom reefs were being lost at an alarming rate. Though nothing had been done in the Mid-Atlantic to quantify that loss or lay out a restoration program, Captain Monty saw the productivity losses associated with benthic habitat loss.
Morning Star Fishing strictly adhered to the Code of Angling Ethics, reporting each and every catch, and the prevention of wasteful resources or unnecessary waste into the ocean. This created their tag line:
Experience. Precision. Dedication. Conservation.
Using this tagline, Captain Monty has described his innovation as follows:
"The pyramid is designed not to scour into the bottom—a common problem with reef material. Once bottom sands have reached the lower part of the arch, sand then flows freely through the unit and it shouldn’t settle in much further. Also important — finished units are light enough to be two-man boat deployable and molds are super simple to assemble. A busy concrete plant will not squander precious man hours assembling complex molds unless they’re getting paid. With the pyramid I designed it only takes 9 common clamps to assemble and be ready to pour. We get free concrete they were going to pitch anyway. That’s really important — we’re using waste concrete; what would have been washed out and lost."
Captain Monty describes how this innovation benefits the business by describing:
“Once reef fish begin using an area of complex habitat, they’ll return each spring year after year. In the case of tautog, they simply don’t leave. So, by expanding our region’s habitat footprint we expand spawning habitat AND spawning populations of fish. Fishing gets better. My clients like catching fish!"
Thus, this innovation helps to make his clients happy.
Captain Monty actively engages with Maryland’s ocean conservation organization to include the Ocean City Reef Foundation. This ensures that artificial reef material are environmentally acceptable so that meaning they cause no further harm to the ocean or fish.
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Captain Monty Hawkins is the owner of a recreational party fishing boat, Morning Star Fishing. The company adds its concrete pyramid blocks to the ocean as a reclaimable natural habitat. His passion for the ocean and restoration to fishery without a habitat ignited his “I’m going to do it” attitude into actionable efforts. He continues to build habitats for restoration while the federal fishery agency isn't supporting this cause as much as he would like.