Atlantic Beach Artificial Reef

Well, it's that time of year again, time to renew the web hosting. And for those of you that don't know, that has become a lot more expensive than it used to be. Fifty dollars a year is now several hundred. Not to mention the price of domain names has gone up ten-fold.

And I just found out that the nice folks at PayPal disabled all my Support buttons, and I never got a notice (although that may be my fault.) In any case, it is all working again now, so if you would like to make a small donation to help defray these costs, it would be greatly appreciated.

Fran S        75-barge      80-barge      100-barge     140-barge     85-barge      150-barge     150-wood-barge

Depth: 55 - 64 ft

Atlantic Beach Artificial Reef

There is a continuous wall between points 11 and 12 that someone apparently didn't think was important enough to draw in. See the side-scan below.

Not Shown:

  • automobile & truck bodies, long gone
  • 10,000 tire units
side-scan sonar image of Atlantic Beach Reef, click to enlarge

rock reef
A hopper barge full of rock

All manner of concrete, steel, and stone rubble from dredging, demolition projects, and other construction is used as artificial reef materials. This material is generally available at very low cost or free from construction companies who are more than happy to get rid of it. Transportation costs determine where this material is used by the Reef Program.


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.


80 ft steel barge
Type:
artificial reef, barges
Depth:
55 - 64 ft
Name Description Sunk GPS
80 ft steel 40°31.884'
-73°43.297'
85 ft steel 40°31.942'
-73°42.894'
100 ft steel 40°31.631'
-73°43.029'
140 ft steel 40°31.736'
-73°42.736'
150 ft steel 40°31.903'
-73°43.166'
150 ft wood 40°31.762'
-73°43.306'
75 ft steel Thursday
Nov 14, 2019
40°31.604'
-73°43.611'

Fran S reef
Type:
artificial reef, tugboat
Built:
1899
Specs:
( 84 ft )
Sunk:
early 1970s - Atlantic Beach Reef
Depth:
80 ft
GPS:
40°31.711' -73°43.438'

sank during dredging operations

later raised, moved, and re-sunk as part of reef

intact, upright


Comments on Atlantic Beach Reef

Questions or Inquiries?

Just want to say Hello? Sign the .

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Click image to replace if unable to read.

Enter the digits from the image above, except for the last one:

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.


Striped Bass

Morone saxatilis

Profile by Thomas Baum,
Senior Fisheries Biologist

Common Name:
Striped Bass, also called Rockfish, Rock, Striper, and Linesider

Printed from njscuba.net