New Jersey Scuba Diving

New Jersey Artificial Reef Charts

New Jersey's Artificial Reef Program is headquartered at Nacote Creek, Port Republic (see chart above.) There they have offices, labs, dockage, and dedicated research vessels including the 42-foot Zephyrus, above. The program not only constructed artificial reefs for the benefit of both the environment and the public, but also conducted scientific research like this landmark study published in 2003:

• Marine Life Colonization of Experimental Reef Habitat (2003)
• Artificial Reef Program | Chart | List | Videos | Contact

The Reef Program likes to say that all this is done with no taxpayer funds, but this is not true. Here are the amounts from the federal Sport Fish Restoration Fund given to New Jersey for just the last five years:

• 2021 - $4,142,605
• 2022 - $3,996,614
• 2023 - $4,246,832
• 2024 - $3,818,272
• 2025 - $4,163,828

That is over 20 million dollars. Of course, not all of this is for artificial reefs, probably just a small fraction goes to that purpose. This funding extends back to 1952. You can see the data for yourself here. In addition to this, the state directly pays the salaries of NJDEP workers, as well as paying for facilities, boats, etc. So the idea that no public funds are spent on artificial reefs is hogwash.

According to their own website, here is what the artificial reef program has done in those years: (2025 is ongoing, obviously)

• 2021 - 5 vessels
• 2022 - reef balls
• 2023 - reef balls, 3 vessels
• 2024 - reef balls
• 2025 - nothing

I know for a fact that a lot more than this has been done, but little is reported anymore. For example, construction companies are continually disposing of dredge rock and concrete rubble on the artificial reefs. These companies do this at their own expense, and the reef program has little more to do than OK it. In the past the reef program did an excellent job of reporting every one, but no longer - the most recent records I can find are from 2022.

New Jersey Artificial Reef Sites