- Division of Marine Fisheries
Through the collaborative efforts of DMF, the Cape Cod Salties, the Yarmouth Division of Natural Resources (DNR), the U. S. Coast Guard, and the MA Department of Fish and Game (DFG), new structures have been deployed to the Yarmouth artificial reef site in Nantucket Sound for the first time in more than two decades. Two separate efforts contributed more than 3000 cubic yards (CY) of new material to the site, covering several acres of bottom.
On October 1, two Coast Guard vessels deployed 140,000 pounds of retired concrete buoy sinkers to an area within the southern portion of the permitted site. The Coast Guard delivered and deployed the materials to the site as part of their maritime stewardship efforts in support of local coastal communities and at no cost to the Commonwealth. This effort is an example of state and federal government working together to reduce costs through repurposing and recycling materials while providing added environmental benefits. Additional sinkers are scheduled to be delivered to the site again in mid-January 2020.
A second series of deployment events began on January 6, 2020. With funding from DFG’s In-lieu Fee Program, the Robert B. Our Company was contracted to deploy 2000 CY of material to the reef. Over 500 CY of granite blocks originating from the old drive-in movie site on Route 28 in South Yarmouth and from the demolition of a railroad bridge in Dennis were secured by the Cape Cod Salties and Yarmouth DNR for use as reef materials. Additional concrete materials were donated by the contractor. Materials were transported from Fall River to the site over several trips using a barge and tug, and deployed to a designated location in the southeastern section of the reef site.
Originally permitted by DMF in 1978, the 125-acre Yarmouth reef is located 2.2 miles south of the entrance to the Bass River in Yarmouth at approximately 32 ft depth, and is the Commonwealth’s oldest artificial reef. The reef site is designed to enhance fishing for black sea bass, tautog, and scup by providing benthic relief and interstitial spaces for marine fish and invertebrates in an otherwise featureless location.
With the deployments of new materials, the reef site is expected to provide additional recreational fishing access opportunities for decades to come. As the reef ages, it will undergo various stages of colonization and succession and is expected to resemble natural structured habitat over time. Although colonization of recently deployed material is in the very early stages, fish and invertebrates will be present on the site this spring, and recreational fishing opportunities are expected as soon as the fish migrate into Nantucket Sound. DMF will begin monitoring the site in the spring of 2020.
By Mark Rousseau, Climate and Artificial Reef Specialist
Artificial Reefs
More information on the Yarmouth Reef and other artificial reef sites in Massachusetts can be found using the link below.