Del-Jersey-Land artificial reef lands
latest load of retired NYC subway cars

More retired New York City subway cars came to rest on the ocean floor off Delaware’s coast today as the new Del-Jersey-Land artificial reef continued taking shape and making marine habitat that enhances the state’s recreational angling and diving opportunities. The state’s newest reef is also expected to receive the former destroyer USS Radford next year when the retired warship becomes the largest vessel to be sunk for reefing on the East Coast.

The latest complement of stainless steel subway cars—44 in number—brought the total to 264 cars comprising the Del-Jersey-Land reef along with several retired vessels. All told, almost 1,300 New York City subway cars have been sunk over Delaware’s artificial reef sites.

The Del-Jersey-Land reef is a cooperative venture between Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland for enhancing fisheries habitat through decommissioned and retired ships, and the subway cars. The subway cars came to Delaware waters by way of New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), and were barged down the coast and dropped over the Del-Jersey-Land site—26 miles southeast of Indian River Inlet, and equidistant from the three states comprising the reef’s name.

As with five earlier sinkings on the Del-Jersey-Land reef, this deployment will test the subway cars’ durability in 120-150 feet of water by placing them singly on the ocean floor. Previous subway car 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.

The subway cars are sunk to expand reef capacity that bolsters fisheries habitat, in turn increasing fishing and diving opportunities for the thousands of recreational anglers and divers who visit Delaware’s network of artificial reefs each year. “The cars provide protection for reef fish like black sea bass and hard substrate for the attachment of a diverse invertebrate community, giving reef fish more feeding opportunities,” said Jeffrey Tinsman, reef program manager with DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife.

The great majority of the subway cars introduced into Delaware waters make up the state’s most popular artificial reef, the Redbird Reef (the name a variation of the nickname for the subway cars when they were used in NYC transit system). 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 towing and barge operator contracted by the MTA New York City Transit, which also completed the cleanup to remove all greases and buoyant materials from the subway cars that might be harmful to the marine environment. The operation also was funded by MTA New York City Transit, while DNREC’s role was to oversee the placement of the subway cars at the reef.

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

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Michael Globetti



Public Affairs-Office of the Secretary

Dept. of Natural Resources

and Environmental Control