NEWS OF THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL

September 30, 2009
Vol. 39, No. 392

For more information, contact Jeffrey Tinsman, Fisheries Section, Division of Fish and Wildlife, 302-739-4782 or 302-258-5247; or Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.

Fish habitat takes “express” with more NYC
subway cars deployed on Del-Jersey-Land reef

DOVER — Delaware continues to use the bottom of the sea as a “switching yard” in which sunken old subway cars turn an empty underwater stretch into inviting marine habitat. The latest deployment of retired New York City subway cars were sunk today onto the Del-Jersey-Land artificial reef, the state’s second reef consisting primarily of the cars that now number more than 1,100 in Delaware waters.

The sinking was the third of subway cars over the last two months at the state’s newest artificial reef, a collaborative venture between the three states that comprise the reef’s name: Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. As with the first two sinkings, 44 subway cars by way of New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) were barged down the coast and dropped over the Del-Jersey-Land site—26 miles southeast of Indian River Inlet, and lying equidistant from the three states in the reef’s name.

“The Del-Jersey-Land site is rapidly seeing the benefit of subway car reefing, which transformed Delaware artificial reef Site 11—our Redbird Reef—from virtually barren habitat to a richly anointed undersea oasis for marine life,” said Jeffrey Tinsman, reef program manager with DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife.

Though the reef consists largely of sunken subway cars, it also will offer enhanced fisheries habitat from decommissioned and retired ships either that already have been sunk on the site or habitat to be created through future sinkings of larger vessels.

As with the earlier subway car sinkings on the Del-Jersey-Land reef, the latest deployment will test the stainless steel cars’ durability in 120-150 feet of water by placing them singly on the ocean floor. Earlier sinkings at artificial reefs along the East Coast were made with one subway car piled atop another on bottom, for a two-tiered reef habitat.

This is the sixth sinking of retired NYC subway cars in recent months in Delaware waters and brings the number of subway cars that largely comprise the state’s largest artificial reef sites to 1,129 since the reef project began in 2001. The Del-Jersey-Land reef now hosts more than 130 of the subway cars for expanding and enhancing fisheries habitat.

The great majority of the cars make up the state’s most popular artificial reef, the Redbird Reef (the name a variation of the nickname for the subway cars deployed onto the reef). With the subway cars accounting for a total surface area of 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.

As with much of Delaware’s reefing, today’s operation was carried out by the marine transportation division of Weeks Marine, Inc., a worldwide towing and barge operator contracted by the 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 placement of the subway cars on the reef.

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.