By Jack Stewardson, Standard-Times staff writer
FAIRHAVEN -- They look a little
like oversized, sawed-off Whiffle balls, but they will soon become hearth and
home to a variety of marine life off Salters Point in South Dartmouth. "Fish will be able to swim both inside
and out," said Karen Rypka, a state fisheries biologist coordinating a unique
project to create new fish habitat. "Some of these holes are dead ends --
they'll make good lobster cavities." The state Division of Marine Fisheries,
in conjunction with UMass Dartmouth's Center for Marine Science and Technology,
plan to create an artificial reef along 3.5 acres of sea bottom off Salters
Point. The reef site will be
situated in about 30 feet of water, with largely flat bottom and a layer of silt
over sandy clay. Last week
Larry Beggs, a representative of Reef Innovations and Diving Specialists Inc. of
Florida and the Reef Ball Development Group Inc., was at Linberg Marine Inc. in
Fairhaven to supervise casting the reef units in fiberglass molds. Fish like to congregate around reef-like
structures that become encrusted with vegetation and invertebrates. The state is
hoping the Salters Point site will become a magnet for such species as tautog,
black sea bass and possibly striped bass and bluefish, along with lobsters and
other shellfish. The project
got off the ground when state Rep. William M. Straus, D-Mattapoisett, managed to
get $75,000 set aside in the state budget a few years ago for the project.
Ms. Rypka said it is hoped as
many as 100 reef units can be molded and placed at the site, which will be
periodically monitored by UMass Dartmouth scientists. "We will try to (video)tape some just to
see how the organisms attach," she said. "We'll be placing some up current, some
down current and some in mid-current." The state originally zeroed in on a site
75 yards of Naushon Island last summer, but later switched to Salters Point
after islanders raised some concerns and after deciding the Dartmouth site would
be closer to a new marine science center at Fort Rodman and better sheltered
than the Naushon location. 
The
reef balls, weighing 3,000 to 3,500 pounds, are about 4 feet high and 6 feet in
diameter. Smaller reef pallets weigh 1,200 to 1,400 pounds and run about 3 feet
high and 4 feet in diameter.
Mr. Beggs said over a two-year period artificial reefs grow to resemble a
natural reef. 
"Four
or five years and you won't be able to tell a man-made reef from a natural
reef," he said.' The concrete
features a micro silica for added strength, is abrasive resistant and has a PH
content similar to natural sea water. The fiberglass molds are primed with sugar
water to make them sticky and more receptive to the cement. A bladder and inflated balls are used
inside the molds to govern thickness of the walls and create openings. Ms. Rykpa said the first units should be
deployed by mid-July, and by the end of summer a healthy crop of vegetation
should take root. She said the
units should not interfere with marine travel. "They are low-profile and are not going
to be a navigation hazard," she said. But she suggested anglers might want to
avoid anchoring inside the reef areas because the anchors could catch on the
balls. More than 10,000 reef
balls have been deployed throughout the world over the past four years,
according to Mr. Beggs. Reef Ball Innovations and Diving Specialists Inc. has
been involved in projects in the Persian Gulf, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida
and the Caribbean. It is currently working on a year-long project to replace a
damaged natural reef off Puerto Rico. The reef units currently being molded at
Linberg Marine will be barged to the site next week. 
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