Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) sunk another ship for its artificial reef last week.
The Reedville was a 180-foot freighter for both the Army and Navy and later became a fish processing vessel before being retired. It was purchased by the state of Delaware through taxes on sport fishing at a cost of $175,000.
The Reedville was sunk Thursday about 16 miles off the Delaware coast, adding to one of the 14 sites that make up the state’s approximately 7.5 miles of artificial reef.
Delaware’s Artificial Reef Coordinator Jeff Tinsman says the sinking took a few hours—with only the typical glitches.
“If you’ve seen the video, you can tell it appears to go down on its starboard side, and that seems to be a characteristic of this type of retired military vessel,” said Tinsman. “In some cases they’ve gone down on their sides but righted themselves afterwards.”
Delaware sinks about one vessel a year, as well as adding old subway cars and concrete to its reef system, and has done so since the 90s.
Tinsman says the system provides a rich habitat of invertebrates and plenty of cover for fish to feed on them.
“We get an annual set of blue crabs in early spring and there are about 20 or 30 other invertebrates—crabs, shrimp, worms and other mollusks that are associated with that community,” he said.
Tinsman says DNREC estimates about $7 million in annual return to the state based on the number of boats that use the reef areas for fishing.
