Unused concrete railroad ties from the Port of Brownsville will soon be added to an artificial reef near South Padre Island.

“Our main focus is really to rebuild lost habitat in the Gulf of Mexico,” RGV Reef President Curtis Hayungs said.

Nearly 20,000 used railroad ties will soon be dropped onto the floor of the Gulf. The ties will also be joined by a 110-foot-long boat that’s no longer in use that RGV Reef will sink in the area.

It’s part of RGV Reef’s continuing efforts to provide a home to algae, small shrimp and fish in the ocean. In the last eight years, the artificial reef off the coast of South Padre Island has grown to 1,650 acres, slightly bigger than the size of the city.

Fish have quickly moved in, using the new spaces as artificial nurseries. The hope is that the artificial reef will boost the fish population in the Gulf to meet the demand from fishermen.

“We create food for fish within the reef, biologists are telling us we have the largest artificial nursery reef in the world,” Hayungs said.

Later this year, RGV Reef will work with the Texas General Land Office to discuss dismantling the old causeway between Port Isabel and South Padre Island to build a new reef cluster.

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