One of the 44 subway cars added to the Blackfish Bank Reef last week begins its fast descent to the ocean's bottom. VIRGINIA MARINE RESOURCES COMMISSION Visit the Photo Place

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New York City subway cars now part of a Virginia reef

Ken Perrotte's outdoors column

Date published: 7/3/2008

MANMADE REEFS designed to attract and hold fish are increasingly popular along the East Coast. From ships intentionally scuttled in the Florida Keys and off North Carolina's Outer Banks to the latest addition--44 stainless steel New York City subway cars added to Virginia's Blackfish Bank Reef--manufactured reefs have been expanding recreational angling opportunities over the past 30 years.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission sank the donated Metropolitan Transit Authority subway cars from a barge on June 26 just off the coast of Chincoteague in 65 feet of water.

The subway cars were placed in a grid pattern near 50 New York City "Redbird" subway cars sunk in November 2003 and 40 Army-donated surplus armored personnel carriers deployed in 1998, according to the VMRC's John M.R. Bull.

Each car is 50 feet long. The combined weight was 17 tons.

Virginia's marine waters now sport 23 reefs of varying size and composition. Materials such as old concrete pipes, demolished bridges, the remains of piers and a lighthouse or surplus equipment such as subway cars, armored personnel carriers or old Liberty-class ships comprise these underwater housing complexes for marine life.

One of the most popular fishing spots in the middle Chesapeake Bay, "The Cell," was created from the ruins of a ship demagnetization facility designed to protect against World War II mines.

Many artificial reefs along the Outer Banks and Florida also attract divers and spearfishermen, but Bull said the Blackfish Bank Reef is a fishing reef.

"Water visibility there isn't like the Caribbean," he noted in an e-mail. "These subway cars are an extension of a previous manmade reef, which is fully functioning. The new part should be working fine in a few weeks when the bottom settles and organisms and small fish make it their home, which will attract larger fish."

Underwater structure, manmade or natural, tends to facilitate a microcosm of the marine food chain, from nearly microscopic organisms that attract small fish to the larger predator fish feeding on the small fish.

The exact locations of each reef, and their composition, can be found at mrc.vir ginia.gov/reef_map/reef_map.shtm. Specifics on Blackfish Bank Reef can be found at mrc.virginia.gov/vsrfdf/blackfish_reef.shtm.

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Date published: 7/3/2008