NEWS OF THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
June 16, 2009
Vol. 39, No. 269

For more information contact Jeffrey Tinsman, Fisheries Section, Division of Fish and Wildlife, 302-739-4782; or Beth Shockley, Public Affairs, 302-739-9902. 

 24 More NYC Subway Cars Sunk to Enhance Habitat at Redbird Reef

The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Artificial Reef Program today oversaw the sinking of another 24 New York City subway cars at Delaware’s largest and most popular artificial reef, Redbird Reef.

The subway cars are being sunk to expand the capacity of the reef, enhance fisheries habitat, and increase fishing and diving opportunities for thousands of recreational anglers and divers who visit the site each year.

This is the third subway car sinking in recent months, with 44 cars sunk in March and again in April, and 39 cars sunk earlier this month. According to Jeffrey Tinsman, reef program manager with DNREC’s Fisheries Section, the lower number of 24 cars sunk today “keeps all cars on one level in order to test whether this affects durability of the cars.”

With the total surface area of the cars at more than 2.5 million square feet, Redbird Reef supports a marine life community up to 400 times richer than the natural bottom. Subway cars make ideal reef material, because voids and cavities in the cars’ structure provide the perfect sanctuary for reef fish.

In the Mid-Atlantic region, the ocean bottom is usually featureless sand or mud. 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.

Today’s operation was carried out by the marine transportation division of Weeks Marine, Inc., a worldwide towing and barge operator contracted by MTA New York City Transit, which also completed the car cleanup to remove all greases and buoyant materials that might be harmful to the marine environment. The operation was funded by MTA New York City Transit. DNREC’s role was to oversee the placement of the subway cars at the reef.

The addition of 24 subway cars brings the total number of sunken subway cars on Redbird Reef to 997. Since the reef was first created in 1997, a variety of materials have been deployed at the site including the subway cars, decommissioned barges, commercial vessels and tugboats, military vehicles and 6,000 tons of ballasted truck tire units.

Redbird Reef is now more than 1.3 square nautical miles of ocean bottom located 16 nautical miles off the coast of the Indian River Inlet. The reef supports more than 13,000 angler visits per year, up from fewer than 300 in 1997.