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Alaska gets artificial reef at busy
port
Saturday, May 13, 2006 9:27 AM
PDT
WHITTIER, Alaska (AP) - Fifty feet down
in the cold waters of Smitty's Cove, a concrete paradise
is being built for some of Alaska's most unusual
creatures.
Alaska's first artificial reef was
recently installed near Whittier - one of Alaska's
busiest ports - to provide a haven for small plants and
fish, near where barges stacked high with containers
bring everything from road graders to toilet paper into
the state.
The reef was in response to damage
done when Alaska Marine Lines expanded its container
facility at Whittier last year.
The federal government required the
company to mitigate damage done to marine habitat when
it filled in tidal waters to extend a ramp last
year.
They covered all the good stuff, said
Mark Schroeder, a wildlife biologist with the federal
Minerals Management Service, who helped promote the
project.
The demonstration project involves two
types of reef structures - one built with about 100
concrete pyramids and the other with about 100 concrete
balls, said Brian Lance, a fisheries biologist with the
habitat division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
The reef balls are hollow so that
small fish can use them to hide from larger fish. They
come with holes that create mini-whirlpools to help mix
the water column. And they are thick on the bottom and
thin at the top so they won't flip over in stormy seas.
A rough exterior encourages algae growth.
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