Scuba Diving - New Jersey & Long Island New York

Scuba Diving - New Jersey & Long Island New York

Summary of Reef Materials Deployed through 2002

NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
DIVISION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE
MARINE FISHERIES ADMINISTRATION
BUREAU OF MARINE FISHERIES

Date Submitted: March, 2003
Period of Study: 1973 through 2002
Reported by: Bill Figley
Data Compilation & Summarization:  Jennifer Daetsch

This Job, "Coordination of Artificial Reef Construction," was conducted under Grant F-69-D and supported in part by Wallop-Breaux Federal Aid to Sportfish Restoration Funds administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. #6dploy02

Annual Data Summary
Summary of Reef Materials Deployed through 2002

Initial Construction

The following report summarizes reef construction activities on New Jersey's fourteen artificial reef sites. Between 1973 and 1983, materials were deployed by a private group, called the "Artificial Reef Committee", working in cooperation with the Sandy Hook Lab of the National Marine Fisheries Service. During that time, the Committee deployed seven vessels, encompassing 17,213 cubic yards, and 400 cubic yards of steel drums on the Sea Girt Reef ( Table 1. )

Number of Deployments

In 1984, the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife took over all reef building efforts in the state. Since the inception of the Division's program, reef construction has increased steadily ( Table 1. ) In 19 years, a total of 2,093 "patch" reefs were constructed. A patch reef is a several-square-yard to several-acre reef created by placing a vessel or army tank or barge-load of other material on the sea floor. About 13 percent of these reefs, 271 in number, were made in 2002.

New Jersey Artificial Reef ProgramNew Jersey Artificial Reef Program


Volume of Materials

During 2002, a total of 658,438 cubic yards of material was deployed on reef sites ( Table 1 ) including 634,176 cubic yards of rock, 11,830 cubic yards of concrete, 10,389 cubic yards of vessels, 1,018 cubic yards of concrete castings, 883 cubic yards of Reef Balls and 142 cubic yards of ocean cable. Over the last 19 years, a total of 3,301,892 cubic yards of material has been deployed on New Jersey's 14 reef sites, including 2,700,393 cubic yards of rock, 285,459 cubic yards of vessels, 229,365 cubic yards of concrete, 61,772 cubic yards of concrete-ballasted tire units and 17,853 cubic yards of obsolete army tanks. The distribution of material by reef site is shown in Table 2.

Tire Reef Program

The total production of concrete-ballasted tire units was 55,713 units during the 15-year cooperative tire reef program ( Table 4. ) the use of concrete-ballasted tire units was discontinued in 1998.

REEFEX

REEFEX began in 1994 as a joint military-civilian training program whereby the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, Army and Navy Special Forces, Air Force and New Jersey Army National Guard participated in providing obsolete military vehicles for reef construction activities. Tanks were cleaned and prepared at Fort Dix by the New Jersey Army National Guard. During the 6-year program, a total of 397 obsolete army vehicles were placed on 11 reef sites. The program ended in 1999 due to insufficient funding.

New Jersey Artificial Reef Program

Reef Ball Habitats

In 1998, 16 fiberglass molds were purchased to fabricate concrete Reef Ball habitats. In 1999, construction of habitats began at Southern State Correctional Facility using inmate laborers. The program is designed to produce 700 habitats each year. Transportation of the habitats to ocean reef sites was provided by the Ocean County Bridge Department and now, by a contractor. In 2002, 650 habitats were placed on 5 reef sites. To date, a total of 2,556 Reef Ball habitats have been placed on 6 reef sites ( Table 4. )

Concrete Castings

Concrete castings is a new category of reef material in 2002. Concrete castings are pipes, junction boxes and other hollow concrete structures with manufacturer's defects, like chips or cracks, that render them unsaleable. In 2002, 447 concrete castings were placed on two reef sites: Little Egg and Cape May.

Sea Floor Coverage

The sea floor coverage by reef structure is an important measurement of habitat for demersal fish and shellfish. The total area of sea floor that has been covered by reef materials over the past 19 years is 1,887,159 square yards ( Table 3. ) Rock, concrete and concrete-ballasted tire units provide the majority of the surface coverage due to their low height. The high relief of ships leads to large volumes, but low footprint coverage.

New Jersey Artificial Reef Program

Material Relief

The majority of material in terms of footprint ( area of sea floor covered ) has been moderately low ( 4-7' ) and low ( 0'-3' ) structures, with smaller amounts of moderately high ( 8'-12' ) and high profile ( over 12' ) structures. While the aim of the reef project is to create low profile structure that provides the greatest benefits for targeted reef species, such as sea bass, tautog, scup and red hake, a mix that includes high profile material provides habitat for pelagic species, such as bluefish, bonito, jacks and various baitfish. It should be noted that the lower portions of high profile structures also provide low profile habitat.

Vessels

Since 1973, a total of 122 vessels ( Table 5 ) have been sunk, with 115 by the Division of Fish and Wildlife. The vessels range in size from a 31-foot steel sport boat to a 460-foot Navy attack cargo transport. The Sea Girt, Garden State North, Atlantic City and Cape May reefs have received the largest numbers of vessels ( Table 5. )

The vessels sunk during 2002 include:

New Jersey Artificial Reef Program

Reef Site Coverage

New Jersey's fourteen reef sites comprise over 99 million square yards of sea floor ( Table 14. ) By the end of 2002, the area of sea floor covered by all materials deployed on reef sites amounted to 1,887,159 square yards. Thus, reef material is now covering only about 1.90 percent of the state's 14 reef sites; 98.10 percent of the ocean bottom on these sites is still not covered with reef structure, but remains as sand.

Acknowledgements

Personnel involved in deployment of reef materials during 2002 included Jeff Carlson, Barry Preim, Linda Barry, Jennifer Daetsch, Nathan Figley and John Makai. Data compilation and summarization was performed by Jennifer Daetsch. The manuscript was typed by Nancy Loveland.

Table 1

Number of Patch Reefs Deployed By Year

Year Concrete Rock Tire
Units		 Vessels Tanks Reef
Balls		 Other TOTAL
1984 1 1 2
1985 1 2 5 8
1986 6 8 14
1987 8 8 6 22
1988 19 29 6 54
1989 8 32 9 49
1990 7 7 24 6 1 45
1991 22 58 33 5 1 119
1992 52 148 24 3 227
1993 3 148 15 7 173
1994 11 29 19 9 6 3 77
1995 34 9 5 58 1 107
1996 2 22 5 77 1 107
1997 1 2 5 10 84 102
1998 5 5 4 116 130
1999 5 2 56 15 78
2000 4 34 20 58
TOTAL 178 392 228 95 397 49 33 1372

 

Table 2

Volume of Materials Deployed in 2000
by Artificial Reef Site ( cubic yards )

Reef Site Concrete Rock Reef
Balls		 Vessels Tanks Other* TOTAL
Sandy Hook 0
Shark River 0
Sea Girt 6457 6457
Axel Carlson 169 1086 1255
Barnegat Light 161 161
Garden State N 80 80
Garden State S 167 167
Little Egg 0
Atlantic City 474 474
Great Egg 0
Ocean City 0
Wildwood 0
Cape May 517 517
Deepwater 0
TOTAL 0 0 577 8060 0 474 9111

* includes steel drums, railroad cars, cable

 

Table 3

Volumes of Materials From All Sources Deposited on
Reef Sites by Year Through 2000 ( cubic yards )

Year Concrete Rock Tire
Units		 Vessels Tanks Reef
Balls		 Other TOTAL
1983 17213 400 17613
1984 1100 170 1270
1985 2000 1050 15879 18929
1986 2210 20966 104 23280
1987 10400 2647 14912 27959
1988 33272 3480 12248 49000
1989 7110 3622 11712 22444
1990 10687 4800 5360 9311 1100 31258
1991 20576 200705 6606 54392 2302 284581
1992 33050 671690 7110 4320 400 716570
1993 5000 716500 6501 7680 672 736353
1994 8400 145000 11729 18185 600 64 183978
1995 58625 5557 3683 2540 70405
1996 650 4169 6412 3847 766 15844
1997 45 3450 1023 22545 3859 30922
1998 3275 250 11476 4571 19572
1999 3810 4596 2122 575 11103
2000 8060 577 474 9111
TOTAL 196900 1742145 62414 243760 17539 1152 6282 2270192

 

Table 4

Volumes of Materials From All Sources Deployed
on Artificial Reefs Through 2000 ( cubic yards )

Reef Site Concrete Rock Tire
Units		 Vessels Tanks Reef
Balls		 Other TOTAL
Sandy Hook 100372 1742145 751 44 1843312
Shark River 26800 597 75258 102655
Sea Girt 39495 47908 1318 2160 90881
Axel Carlson 438 8109 2185 169 10901
Barnegat Light 2273 178 2464 490 20 5425
Garden State N 4536 30527 1127 326 36516
Garden State S 4835 4788 1257 167 11047
Little Egg 200 2057 1412 1544 106 5319
Atlantic City 5281 45103 1460 1276 53120
Great Egg 7893 3208 1939 13040
Ocean City 4762 3668 1634 104 10168
Wildwood 500 6525 508 1591 9124
Cape May 29533 19332 22343 1020 2572 74800
Deepwater 3885 3885
TOTAL 196900 1742145 62414 234760 17539 1152   6282 2270193

 

Table 5

Number of Tire Units Constructed and Deployed by
Carbon Service Corporation and Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May
Counties Cooperative Tire Reef Programs

YEAR TIRE UNIT PRODUCTION
1984 380
1985 700
1986 2203
1987 2647
1988 3480
1989 3347
1990 5278
1991 7382
1992 6429
1993 4879
1994 9327
1995 4714
1996 3854
1997 712
1998 313
TOTAL 55645

 

Table 6

Numbers and Types of Military Vehicles
Deployed Through REEFEX by Year

YEAR M-113 APC* M-551 Sheridan M-60 tank M-578 tow vehicle TOTAL
1994 6 6
1995 40 8 10 58
1996 24 43 10 77
1997 21 1 62 84
1998 97 4 13 2 116
1999 41 4 11 56
TOTAL 202 76 44 75 397

* Armored Personnel Carrier

 

Table 7

Numbers and Types of Military Vehicles Deployed
Through REEFEX by Reef Site Through 2000

Reef Site M-113 APC* M-551 Sheridan M-60 tank M-578 tow vehicle TOTAL
Sandy Hook 0
Shark River 0
Sea Girt 19 6 1 26
Axel Carlson 36 2 9 1 48
Barnegat Light 41 6 5 12 64
Garden State N 26 5 1 32
Garden State S 24 5 2 2 33
Little Egg 5 6 25 36
Atlantic City 2 8 6 9 25
Great Egg 13 5 19 37
Ocean City 8 18 2 6 34
Wildwood 7 13 8 28
Cape May 34 34
Deepwater 0
TOTAL 202 76 44 75 397

* Armored Personnel Carrier

 

Table 8

Number of Reef Ball Habitats
Deployed by Reef Site Through 2000

Reef Site Total Number
of Reef Balls
Axel Carlson 200
Barnegat Light 591
Garden State N 408
Garden State S 200
TOTAL 1399

 

Table 9

Sea Floor Coverage of Materials Deployed in
2000 by Artificial Reef Site ( square yards )

Reef Site Concrete Rock Reef
Balls		 Vessels Tanks Other* TOTAL
Sandy Hook 0
Shark River 954 954
Sea Girt 0
Axel Carlson 296 217 513
Barnegat Light 282 282
Garden State N 140 140
Garden State S 292 292
Little Egg 0
Atlantic City 9310 9310
Great Egg 0
Ocean City 0
Wildwood 0
Cape May 157 157
Deepwater 0
TOTAL 0 0 1010 1328 0 9310 11648

* includes steel drums, railroad cars and cable

 

Table 10

Sea Floor Coverage of Materials From All Sources
on Artificial Reefs Through 2000 ( square yards )

Reef Site Concrete Rock Tire
Units		 Vessels Tanks Reef
Balls		 Other* TOTAL
Sandy Hook 123967 877584 442 67 1002060
Shark River 12170 771 314 20255
Sea Girt 43610 12121 556 1525 57812
Axel Carlson 438 1760 926 297 3421
Barnegat Light 3245 89 1106 1239 20 5699
Garden State N 6035 6247 510 571 1202 14565
Garden State S 4866 1511 556 289 7222
Little Egg 200 1412 529 733 53 2927
Atlantic City 6471 7015 558 14110 28154
Great Egg 7332 642 785 8759
Ocean City 5300 1053 660 124 7137
Wildwood 250 7998 218 571 9037
Cape May 41817 23290 5364 510 1533 72514
Deepwater 4990 4990
TOTAL 222014   877584 72148 44305 7472 2396 18635   1244554

* includes steel drums, cable, subway cars and other steel structures

 

Table 11

Sea Floor Coverage of All Materials on Artificial Reefs Broken Down
by Relief Off the Bottom and Reef Site Through 2000 ( square yards )

Reef Site Relief 0' - 3' Relief 4' - 7' Relief 8' - 12' Relief over 12'
Sandy Hook 120404 879734 1923
Shark River 771 12170 7314
Sea Girt 34995 9969 9214 3694
Axel Carlson 35 40 1670 476
Barnegat Light 4504 51 544
Garden State N 7308 1277 690 5291
Garden State S 4648 967 1607
Little Egg 1616 128 1086 101
Atlantic City 14707 3054 4277 6117
Great Egg 4529 2803 785 642
Ocean City 5300 483 1354
Wildwood 7998 588 451
Cape May 25290 41544 1350 4330
Deepwater 4990
TOTAL 237791 953907 25698 27905

 

Table 12

Number and Type of Vessels Sunk on New Jersey
Artificial Reefs by Year Through 2000

Vessel Type 73-83* 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 TOTAL
Barge 1 1 1 2 6 1 1 1 4 1 1 4 1 1 26
Commercial
Fishing		 3 1 1 3 2 2 2 1 1 16
Crew Boat 1 1 2
Dry Dock 1 1
Ferry 1 1
Freighter 1 1 1 1 4
Landing Craft 1 1 2
Mold 2 2 2 6
Schooner 1 1
Sport Boat 1 1 1 3
Tanker 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 17
Tug 2 2 2 2 1 3 2 3 2 19
Coast Guard 2 2 1 1 6
Lightship 1 1
Sailboat 1 1 2
TOTAL 5 1 5 6 7 6 14 7 4 3 7 9 8 5 10 4 2 4 107

* vessels sunk by Artificial Reef Committee

 

Table 13

Number and Type of Vessels Sunk by
Artificial Reef Site Through 2000

Reef Site -- See below for key
Vessel Type SH SR SG CAR BL GSN GSS LE AC GE OC WW CM DW TOTAL
Barge 1 10 2 3 2 1 1 3 1 2 26
Commercial
Fishing		 4 1 5 1 5 16
Crew Boat 1 1 2
Dry Dock 1 1
Ferry 1 1
Freighter 1 1 2 4
Landing Craft 2 2
Boat Mold 1 2 3 6
Schooner 1 1
Sport Boat 2 1 3
Tanker 1 5 3 3 2 1 2 17
Tug 1 2 6 2 1 3 3 1 19
Coast Guard 2 4 6
Lightship 1 1
Sailboat 1 1 2
TOTAL 4 8 26 4 2 12 8 2 15 1 7 1 17 0 107

Key:

SH -
SR -
SG -
CAR -
BL -
GSN -
GSS - 		Sandy Hook
Shark River
Sea Girt
Axel Carlson
Barnegat Light
Garden State North
Garden State South		       LE -
AC -
GE -
OC -
WW -
CM -
DW - 		Little Egg
Atlantic City
Great Egg
Ocean City
Wildwood
Cape May
Deepwater

 

Table 14

Percent Coverage of Reef Sites by Reef
Structures Through 2002 ( square yards )

Area  ( square yards ) Coverage of Sea Floor ( % )
Reef Site Reef Structure Reef Structure Open Bottom
Sandy Hook 5,788,222 1,298,948 22.44% 77.56%
Shark River 2,067,222 340,976 16.49% 83.51%
Sea Girt 5,373,777 63,116 1.17% 98.83%
Axel Carlson 16,537,716 6,267 0.04% 99.96%
Barnegat Light 3,514,277 5,981 0.17% 99.83%
Garden State North 4,547,888 14,566 0.32% 99.68%
Garden State South 2,273,944 7,711 0.33% 99.67%
Little Egg 5,600,000 4,057 0.07% 99.93%
Atlantic City 16,537,776 32,677 0.20% 99.80%
Great Egg 3,307,555 8,931 0.27% 99.73%
Ocean City 3,142,177 15,343 0.49% 99.51%
Cape May 18,604,998 72,367 0.39% 99.61%
Wildwood 8,806,366 9,280 0.11% 99.89%
Deepwater 2,976,800 6,939 0.23% 99.77%
TOTAL 99,078,718 1,887,159 1.90% 98.10%

New Jersey Artificial Reef Program

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