OCEAN CITY -- A local environmental group will send another 40
retired New York City subway cars to the briny depths of the Atlantic
as a major artificial reef-building initiative continues.
The Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative is scheduled Tuesday to send
a second barge-load of subway train cars, stripped of loose parts and
contaminants, to a fishing site seven miles out called the Bass
Grounds. The group plans to drop more than 600 cars out to sea, where
the ocean will naturally create a sprawling matrix of artificial reefs.
The
first batch of 45 train cars were dropped in May, at a site 19 miles
out called "The Jack Spot." There, a nascent reef already is brimming
with mussels and sea bass, said Monty Hawkins, an Ocean City party boat
captain.
"It almost looks like a prairie, a grassland with the oranges and the yellows," said Hawkins, who helms The Morning Star.
The
Maryland Reef Initiative worked with the Ocean City Reef Foundation,
the New York City Transit Administration and the town of Ocean City.
Local charter Capt. Jack Power also donated $50,000 to the cause.
The
stainless steel cars last 40 to 50 years underwater before dissolving,
leaving behind a hard substrate shell. By then, the reef is guaranteed
to teem with life, first by drawing bottom feeders like tautog, which
in turn will bring larger fish like tuna, and is expected to become a
top fishing and dive site.
"The larger goal is restoration," Hawkins said.
bshane@dmg.gannett.com
410-213-9442, ext. 14
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