More than 1,600 tons of concrete pipe were recently added to an artificial reef to beef up recreational fishing off Brunswick County’s coast. The new addition complements 2,000 tons of pipe placed throughout the site in 2013 and a 75-foot barge that was sunk within the reef site in July.
Less than half of the proposed reef construction for the site has been completed, and plans call for an additional 2,500 tons of concrete pipe to be deployed before year’s end when the permit and funding for the project expire.
This joint project between the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) and the Long Bay Artificial Reef Association, a group of Brunswick County-based fishermen, fills a habitat void off Brunswick County, where sand and mud bottom provide little to attract popular gamefish outside of the spring and fall bait runs. Artificial Reef-430 is one of nine artificial reefs Long Bay has worked with the state to create since the association was founded in 1984. The reef is a little less than 3 miles offshore of Oak Island and about 35 feet below the surface of the Atlantic. It spans a 1,500-foot radius and encompasses about 162 acres.
“We have two reefs up near the Cape Fear River and Lockwood Folly,” said Andy Fisher, president of Long Bay. “Those are our two heaviest fished reef sites. We wanted to have something close enough for the guys coming out of the Cape Fear and close enough for the guys coming out of Lockwood Folly.”
DMF maintains more than 40 artificial reefs along North Carolina’s coast. Their distance to the shore ranges from a half-mile to 38 miles. An interactive reef guide is available at the DMF website, and hard copies are available at DMF offices.