Good news for coastal anglers. I am sure these will hold plenty of striped bass, bluefish, seabass and other fish which should make for some good fishing not too far offshore.

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DOVER, Del. – Three retired tugboats were sunk last week 16 nautical miles off the coast to enhance Delaware’s most popular and heavily fished artificial reef sites. The sinkings on “Redbird Reef” added recycled materials to the ocean floor that will ultimately improve fisheries habitat, increase marine biodiversity and provide fishing and diving opportunities for decades.

“Our survey shows that “Redbird Reef” has as many as 13,000 angler-trips each year,” said Jeffrey Tinsman, reef program manager with DNREC’s Fisheries Section. “The reef has proven to be a favorite of many recreational anglers, providing excellent fishing for black sea bass and summer flounder.”

“Redbird Reef” is Delaware’s only named reef site, because 714 New York City “Redbird” subway cars were sunk there since 2001. Development of the site has been on-going since 1995 and now covers 1.3 square nautical miles of ocean bottom. With the deployment of the three tugboats last week, the total of eight tugboats and barges now reside there. In addition the site holds 86 retired tanks and armored personnel carriers and 3,000 tons of ballasted truck tires. Two more vessels are scheduled to be sunk on “Redbird Reef” later this summer.

Reef construction is especially important in the Mid-Atlantic region, where the ocean bottom is usually featureless sand or mud. Recycled materials, including concrete pipe and other concrete products, ballasted tire units, subway cars and decommissioned military vehicles and vessels, have been sunk off the Delaware coast. Using these materials saves landfill space and allows them to serve in a productive capacity for hundreds of years past their originally intended use.

Monitoring studies have shown that placement of durable, stable reef materials can result in a 400-fold increase in the amount of small sea life and fish. The materials provide refuge or shelter for small fish, and they are the prey that attracts larger fish. Swift, open-ocean pelagic fish, such as tuna and mackerel, use the reef as a hunting ground to grab a quick meal.

A tugboat or other vessel makes an ideal reef material, because voids and cavities in its structure provide the perfect sanctuary for reef fish. Within a few weeks, blue mussels, sponges, barnacles and soft corals attach to the structure, and in about a year, the reef will be fully productive, resembling natural habitat.

The three tugboats deployed included the Cittie Point, a 95 foot canal tugboat built in New York in 1953 which served almost 55 years along the New York canal system and in Virginia where it was used as a ship docking and port facilities tug. The Fells Point, built in Louisiana by Curtis Bay Towing, worked exclusively on the Chesapeake Bay. On the day it was launched in 1954, the 110 foot long ship docking tug was the highest horsepower commercial ship docking tug in the world, with a turbo charged 16-251 American Locomotive Company diesel engine. The third tugboat, the William C. Snow, was a 55 foot long barge towing tugboat that was launched in 1962 in Virginia.

Prior to deployment to Delaware, the tugboats were cleaned by Dominion Marine Group, Norfolk, Va., to remove all greases and buoyant materials that might be harmful to the marine environment. The U.S. Coast Guard inspected and approved the boats prior to transport to the reef site.

The vessels were prepared for sinking by cutting holes above the waterline and installing soft patches in these holes. After the boats arrived and were anchored at the site, the soft patches were removed and pumps were used to initiate flooding of the interior spaces. Water poured into the cut holes and accelerated the sinking process. Differential global positioning system (DGPS) was used to accurately place the vessels on the site.

Delaware has 14 permitted artificial reef sites in the Delaware Bay and coastal waters, with five of these sites located in federal (ocean) waters. Development of the sites began in 1995 as part of a comprehensive fisheries management effort by the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Delaware Reef Program.

Delaware’s artificial reef program is administered by the Fisheries Section with primary funding provided through the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For more information, contact Jeff Tinsman, Environmental Scientist at (302) 739-4782.