April 24, 2009
Vol. 39, No. 182

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

44 More Subway Cars Sunk at Redbird Reef

The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Artificial Reef Program today oversaw the sinking of another 44 New York City subway cars at Delaware’s largest and most popular artificial reef, Redbird Reef.

“The 44 new subway cars are a valuable addition to Redbird Reef,” said Jeffrey Tinsman, reef program manager with DNREC’s Fisheries Section. “The more extensive we can make our reef, the more opportunity we create for greater and more diverse fish and sea life as well as for providing greater fishing opportunities for anglers.”

The subway cars were 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.

The 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.

Each stainless steel subway car is 60 feet long. According to Tinsman, one barge carried all 44 cars stacked two-high from New Jersey, and “a large excavator with forklift-like tongs lifted each 18-ton car and set it overboard.”

The addition of 44 subway cars brings the total number of sunken subway cars on Redbird Reef to 934. Although the artificial reef was created in 1997, the first subway car sinking at the reef occurred in August of 2001, when 27 cars were sunk. The most recent sinking at Redbird Reef was in March of this year, when 44 cars were sunk.

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. Since the reef was first created, a variety of materials have been deployed at the site including 890 subway cars, 11 large vessels - including decommissioned barges, commercial vessels and tugboats, 86 armored military vehicles and 6,000 tons of ballasted truck tire units. The reef now supports more than 13,000 angler visits per year, up from fewer than 300 in 1997.

Reef construction is especially important in the Mid-Atlantic region, where the ocean bottom is usually featureless sand or mud. Subway cars make 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.

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.

For more information, visit http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/fw/Fisheries/Pages/ArtificialReefProgram.aspx or contact Jeff Tinsman, Delaware Reef Program administrator, at 302-739-4782.