ABOARD THE SEA INN, off New Jersey - The old Navy dormitory barge, a squat, three-story maritime rowhouse known by the inelegant name APL-31, rolled gently at anchor in the Atlantic about 16 miles off Manasquan recently. Five minutes later, the dull thud of explosives rocked the 261-foot ship, and puffs of gray and brown smoke rose from its bow and stern.
It started sinking bow first. By 12:20 p.m. it had vanished into about 125 feet of water for a new life as artificial reef. For most of its 57 years, the barge had served as a floating home for Navy repairmen and mechanics who worked on disabled ships.
APL-31 is now in the artificial reef known as Shark River, one of 14 New Jersey has created along its Atlantic Coast since 1984 as habitats for fish and playgrounds for recreational divers and fishermen.
Besides 95 old ships and barges, elements in the artificial reefs include hundreds of concrete-laden tires chained together, steel girders, huge chunks of concrete abutments from demolished bridges, tons of rocks dredged from New York Harbor, about 400 surplus Army vehicles, including tanks and armored personnel carriers, and igloo-shaped concrete structures that are called fish condos and made by inmates in a state prison.
State officials say the artificial reefs make ideal spawning grounds for fish along the Atlantic's generally flat, sandy bottom off New Jersey. First the reefs attract mussels and barnacles, then smaller fish and later, to the delight of skippers of chartered fishing boats and party boats, sea bass, porgies, tautog, ling and some fluke, cod and pollock. Besides adventure, the sunken ships provide divers with plenty of lobsters, officials say.
Last year, anglers caught an estimated 4.8 million fish on the 14 artificial reefs, or about 18 percent of all fish caught in New Jersey's saltwater, according to a survey by the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, which oversees the program. Division officials say they consider the catch remarkable because the artificial reefs occupy only about three-tenths of 1 percent of New Jersey's sea floor.
"Everybody's very happy," said Bill Figley, the division's reef coordinator.
Commercial fisherman sometimes grumble about the artificial reefs because their nets get snagged and damaged by them.
"We try to work with the commercial fishermen, so we can provide fishing for everyone" said John Makai, a supervising biologist with the state Bureau of Marine Fisheries. "But the artificial reefs are taking up only a very minuscule amount of the sea bottom."
