DEC: Sinking of two steel vessels to expand Long Island artificial reefs

New York's dozen artificial reefs will expand with addition of two sunken vessels within their boundaries — one at McAllister Grounds off Jones Beach and another at Smithtown Reef off Stony Brook Harbor — part of a program begun in the 1960s to provide new homes for the kinds of fish, shellfish and plants that are drawn to them, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said Tuesday.

DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos, in announcing the two new deployments — the last slated for this year — emphasized how they would increase opportunities for both anglers and their commercial peers.

"Adding these two vessels, the Chickadee and Barge 226, to New York’s artificial reef network demonstrates the Department of Environmental Conservation’s sustained commitment to expanding and enhancing artificial reefs that benefit marine life and offer new opportunities for anglers and divers," he said in a statement.

"These two vessels now have renewed purpose on the sea floor by establishing structural habitat, enhancing the marine ecosystem, and supporting recreationally and commercially important marine fisheries."

The expansion is not without critics, however. Some commercial fishermen have urged the DEC to hold more meetings with them because growing these reefs by hundreds or thousands of acres — as outlined in a 2019 report — could cost trawlers and other commercial fishing firms long-prized grounds.

Meghan Lapp, a Long Island native and now fisheries liaison for a fishing company, Seafreeze Ltd. in Rhode Island, said: "It's all about location, location, location," echoing a real estate slogan to describe what commercial fishermen stand to lose.

"If they put it in the middle of a trawling ground, that's a major problem," Lapp said. The mesh nets trawlers use can snag on reefs, possibly destroying thousands of dollars of gear or even risk flipping a boat, explained Lapp and Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in Montauk.

The DEC, in a statement, said the program will continue next year. So far, these reefs "collectively use less than one percent of the fishable area in state waters," the DEC statement said.

Countering its critics, the statement added: "Many commercial fishermen have voiced support to DEC about the reef program and DEC has engaged with commercial fishing interests to further take any concerns into consideration."

DEC officials have twice met with commercial fishermen, according to the statement, and have asked them to "identify fishing locations or by providing GPS data collected while fishing to artificialreefs@dec.ny.gov.

The planned expansions are outlined in the lengthy 2019 report the DEC helped craft, "Essential Fish Habitat Assessment, July 2019," which called for adding about 4,460 acres divided among various reefs. That would more than double the existing reefs that cover 3,389 acres.

Chickadee, a 45-foot steel tugboat the U.S. Navy built in 1948 that helped tow Long Island Lighting Co. coal and oil barges in Port Jefferson, is joining the McAllister reef, while Barge 226, an 80-foot steel deck barge formerly used in commercial marine construction, will be sunk at Smithtown Reef, the DEC said in a statement.

The DEC also said Long Island's marine economy accounts for 9.7% of its GDP, "supporting nearly 350,000 jobs and generating billions of dollars through tourism, fishing and other industries." It estimated the reefs will benefit more than half a million anglers.

Said Brady, the commercial fishing association official, "We're just looking for fairness."

New York State, she said, should not be favoring anglers who go after sport fish, like black sea bass, which do like the new reef homes, over commercial fishermen who say the artificial reefs should not be placed where they have historically fished for squid and fluke, for example.