Aiming to boost Long Island’s marine life

Atlantic Beach is among the 12 areas where artificial reefs, using recycled materials, are being created through a New York state initiative to develop a stronger, more diverse marine ecosystem and provide shelter for fish and other marine life off the shore of the Atlantic Ocean (eight reefs), two in the Great South Bay and two in the Long Island Sound.

In its second year, the program will strategically place artificial reefs off shore of Atlantic Beach, Kismet on Fire Island, Matinecock, McAllister Grounds, Twelve Mile and Yellowbar to help improve New York’s diverse marine life and boost Long Island’s recreational and sport fishing and diving industries.

The materials used for the reef expansion are built out of hard, durable structures such as rock, concrete and steel pipes, and usually in the form of surplus or scrap materials that are cleaned of contaminants to mitigate potential impacts to sea life before being recycled on the reef sites.

“New York State is doing more than any state in the United States when it comes to climate change and protecting the environment,” Cuomo said in a news release on Aug. 3. “Reefs are great for the environment and the economy, and the new reefs created under our comprehensive artificial reef program are already incredibly successful.

The recycled materials for the artificial reefs are from the state Department of Transportation, the New York Power Authority/Canal Corporation, and the Thruway Authority. There are materials from the recently torn down Tappan Zee Bridge, Erie Canal vessels and two turbines, steel trusses, pipes and rock, and parts of the City Island Bridge. Also used were a pier, bridge support concrete and concrete barriers from the decommissioned Mill Basin Drawbridge.

“We are going to continue this success by bolstering the Fire Island reef with an assortment of material, and show that New York, and Long Island in particular, can and will be the showcase to demonstrate how to build a green economy and a green environment for the rest of the nation,” Cuomo stated in the release. 

In 2018, materials deployed to the Hempstead, Moriches, Rockaway, Shinnecock, Smithtown and Fire Island artificial reefs under the initiative included 8,805 cubic yards of old Tappan Zee Bridge materials, 13 former Canal Corporation vessels, 4,700 tons of jetty stone, two 70-ton NYPA turbines and more than 170 tons of DOT material.

The newest reefs will include the retired U.S. Army Corps of Engineers steel vessel M/V HUDSON, nearly 1,000 tons of material from the Staten Island Expressway, Kew Gardens Bridge in Queens and Kosciuszko Bridge sections, steel girders and pipes.

Once the materials settle to the sea floor — larger fish like blackfish, black seabass, cod and summer flounder — move in to build habitats within the new structures, and encrusting organisms such as barnacles, sponges, anemones, corals and mussels cling to and cover the material. Over time, these recycled structures will create a habitat similar to a natural reef, state officials said.