Axel Carlson Artificial Reef

2.0 Nautical Miles off Mantoloking
Depth: 65-80 ft
Manasquan Reef Rump          OWD III       Glory         Riggy         Delaware      Harbor Charlie Caterina.D    Middle        MRMTC9        Patrick McHugh Horseshoe Crab Ed Schmidiger Hail Mary     Colleen       Jim Lynch     Hillman       Austin        Captain Bill  Megan Sue     Brooklyn      Bay King      McGinty       Swensen       Barbara Ann   MRMTC8        Snug Harbor

Axel Carlson Artificial Reef

The Axel Carlson reef is situated in a trough next to an underwater hill known as the Manasquan Ridge. This is an area of silty mud bottom and usually has relatively poor visibility. Axel Carlson reef is sometimes referred to as the Mantoloking reef. It also contains a number of sunken army tanks ( not shown. ) Minimum clearance at mean low water is 40 feet.

The pink areas on the chart are the "Full Access Zones". These are the areas where commercial fishermen will continue to be allowed to set their traps and lines as of 2015. For the rest of us, those are more like "No Access Zones," but some sort of fair compromise needed to be reached with the commercial fishermen, some of whom could legitimately claim to have fished those spots for generations.

Axel Carlson Reef
Axel Carlson Reef side-scan
Side-scan image of the entire reef, back when it was largely empty
Much more recent side-scan, showing build-up of rock piles
NOAA






M60 tanks reef
M60 tanks undergo a thorough cleaning before use as reefs

The Artificial Reef Program used four types of obsolete Army armored vehicles as artificial reef materials off the New Jersey coast. These were cleaned at local military bases, loaded onto barges for transport, and pushed off at their final destination. Once the Army had disposed of its excess inventory, the program ceased, around 1999. The Artificial Reef Program has sunk almost 400 tanks altogether, far too many to list them here in this website.


Megan Sue reef
Type:
artificial reef, tugboat
Built:
1960, Jacksonville FL, as Nomad
Specs:
( 61x17 ft )
Sponsor:
"4 of Clubs" - DVD, Ocean Wreck Divers, MRMTC, Ann E. Clark Foundation
Sunk:
Sunday January 9, 2005 - Axel Carlson Artificial Reef
GPS:
40°03.181' -73°59.310'
Depth:
80 ft, top at 60 ft

fish anatomy

Well, that's all just great, but what do I do with it now? Many people have no idea how to clean a fish. Here are some basic instructions:

It is helpful first to understand what you are trying to do when cleaning a fish. The object is to cleanly separate the edible meat from the inedible bones, skin, and guts. Most of the undesirable fishy taste of fish resides in the skin and guts, so it is important to clean fish as soon as possible before that strong fishy taste soaks into the meat. This is especially important with Blackfish, less so for Sea Bass and other types.

Printed from njscuba.net