DOVER – When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers struck rock bottom during deepening of the Delaware River navigational channel, the state’s artificial reef program under the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Division of Fish & Wildlife struck a new partnership with the Corps of Engineers for creating new fish habitat. Since last December, DNREC’s Fisheries Section and the Corps have partnered on a beneficial reuse project for converting nearly a million tons of rock removed from the river bottom into enhanced habitat for marine life on two artificial reef sites in the lower Delaware Bay – and at no cost to the state.

“This project is a shining example of state and federal cooperation that achieves better management and use of natural resources,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “We are grateful for the opportunity to team with the Corps on a project that yields such outstanding environmental and economic benefits – ranging from better navigation of the Delaware River for commercial shipping, to improving fisheries habitat, to increasing anglers’ opportunities in Delaware waters.”

“The Corps greatly appreciates being able to join forces with our DNREC partners and the State of Delaware on such an innovative project,” said Lt. Col. Kristen Dahle, Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District. “Beneficially using rock from the Delaware River navigation channel to create enhanced habitat aligns engineering with natural processes, and maximizes scarce resources. These types of projects create triple-win outcomes integrating social, environmental and economic benefits.”

During the Corps of Engineers’ deepening of the river’s navigational channel to 45 feet to accommodate larger ships coming into port, two types of rock were encountered between Wilmington and Philadelphia: bedrock and more abundant glacial rock that washed downstream during the most recent ice age that spanned some 2.6 million years. In some parts of the river, almost 5 feet of bedrock (amounting to 355,000 tons) was removed to ensure the navigation depth. That rock was transported by Great Lakes Dredging Co., a Corps of Engineers contractor, and deployed to Delaware Reef Site #4, south of Bowers Beach and north of Mispillion Inlet, expanding the reef’s structure to 50 percent of its planned development by the Division of Fish & Wildlife.

Glacial rock taken from the river bottom yielded even more extraordinary reefing material for DNREC. From December through March, more than 635,000 tons of glacial rock was moved by another Corps’ contractor, Norfolk Dredging Co., by barge to the Brown Shoal reef site #6 and piled in mounds 15 to 20 feet high amidst bottom consisting mostly of mud and sand. The addition of glacial rock means that reef site #6 is fully developed, expanding recreational fishing opportunities for the increasing number of anglers who fish Delaware’s world-class artificial reef system each year.

Both kinds of rock delivered by the Corps of Engineers are a boon to the artificial reef system and superior to many other reefing materials used by the program. Natural rock is a very rare habitat type in the mid-Atlantic region and supports a very rich, diverse and novel invertebrate community, dominated by blue mussels. Fish benefit from the protection this habitat provides and also from an increase in food availability from the invertebrates occupying the rocks.

For more information about the beneficial reuse project between DNREC and the Corps of Engineers, please visit the Division of Fish & Wildlife website.

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 48, No. 185

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ATLANTIC OCEAN 38°30.90’N, 074° 30.90’W – The M/V Twin Capes, a ferry christened 43 years ago on the Delaware Bay and retired after thousands of runs between her namesakes Cape Henlopen, Del. and Cape May, N.J., was sunk today to become part of Delaware’s acclaimed artificial reef system. Twin Capes, whose sinking will expand and enhance fish habitat and offer extraordinary opportunities for deep-sea diving, went down at 11:55 a.m. on the Del-Jersey-Land Inshore Artificial Reef – a reef so named because it lies equidistant from Lewes, Del., Cape May, and Ocean City, Md.

The Twin Capes’ sinking was carried out by Norfolk, Va.-based marine contractor Coleen Marine, which bought the ferry from the Delaware River and Bay Authority (DRBA) last year for reefing. Twin Capes joined the Del-Jersey-Land reef’s submerged fleet that includes the ex-destroyer USS Arthur W. Radford, which went down in 2011 as the longest ship reefed on the East Coast, and the Zuni/Tamaroa, the one-time harbor tug and Battle of Iwo Jima survivor turned US Coast Guard cutter that plied Atlantic waters for almost 50 years.

While Radford, at 568 feet, remains the longest ship ever reefed on the East Coast, the 320-foot long Twin Capes may be the best addition yet to Delaware’s artificial reef system for both fishing and recreational diving opportunities.

The 2,100-ton ferry was one of the original three vessels of the DRBA’s 1970s fleet. Twin Capes during the 1990s was retrofitted with a new superstructure and four new decks, multiple lounges, a new pilot house, and “shark-fin” smokestacks. All these features lend to the creation of enhanced fish habitat, while for dive trips, Twin Capes’ 70-foot vertical profile will attract tunas, sharks, and seasonally even barracudas.

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 48, No. 161

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