New Jersey Scuba Diving

Type:

artificial reef, car float barge, USA

Specs:

( 330 x 40 ft ) cut into pieces

Sponsor:

NJDOT / NJDEP

Sunk:

Nov 2025 - Sea Girt Artificial Reef

GPS:

40°07.793' -73°56.824'
40°07.832' -73°56.546'
40°07.859' -73°56.515'
40°07.952' -73°56.413'

Depth:

65 ft

The 330-foot car float barge Liberty was removed from the Hudson River in sections to clear space for a new ferry terminal at Liberty State Park. Since 2005, Liberty was used at the park as a floating dock for ferries transiting to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It sank in a storm in 2020.

The barge was transported in sections and deployed as three discrete "patch reefs." The spud pipe was deployed separately as the fourth patch, ideal for drift fishing. This configuration maximizes available surface area to be colonized by marine organisms, as each of the nine pieces provides 15 feet of vertical height.

This project was a joint effort between the NJ Department of Environmental Protection and NJ Department of Transportation, and the barge was prepared for reefing by DonJon Marine through the NJDOT-run project.

It can take years for a steel barge to open up and become a really productive reef. Cutting it up like this hastens that process tremendously. In a year it should be covered with marine life and bustling with Sea Bass and Tautog. That's all it takes, no hush-hush multi-year 'study' required.

I have plotted the announced numbers (the blue crosses), and the first one is well outside the reef. This is probably a transcription error, when I tried some obvious digit substitutions, it moved inside, but I am sticking with the announced numbers until an official correction is made. Or maybe they really did miss the reef, or perhaps the reef has been 'squared-out', and no one was told.

This is just indicative of the way the reef program is run now. The state's own website was last updated in 2024; announcements are made on Facebook and Instagram now, because that's how modern adult government officials do things. Don't know how they missed out on TikTok.