Reef

Bureaucratic red tape has placed Maryland's fledgling artificial-reef program in financial straits that might require a $480,000 bailout by the Department of Natural Resources. A $500,000 bond bill approved by the General Assembly last session was supposed to ensure that contractors from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement project got paid for delivering concrete and steel construction debris to sites in the Chesapeake Bay. But "boilerplate" language in the contract between the state and the guardians of the nonprofit Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative is preventing the bond money from being transferred to the program.

ASSATEAGUE ISLAND -- From the air, they look like tiny black doughnuts that someone has sprinkled over a beach of brown sugar.On the sand at Assateague Island, however, they are simply trash, a hundred or more old tires. They were washed ashore by the back-to-back northeasters that swept the 38-mile-long barrier island during late January and early February.They are the latest in a plague of old tires that storms continue to break loose from artificial fishing reefs that Ocean City officials sank a few miles offshore more than 20 years ago."

MANILA, Philippines -- Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado has called for a return of American troops to the Philippines, six years after the country's Senate closed down all U.S. bases in a wave of nationalist fervor.Over the past year, legislators have been debating the wisdom of closing the bases in 1992 when their leases expired. Many felt a U.S. military presence in the Philippines was needed to deter Chinese expansion in the South China Sea.The issue has become more pressing recently after Chinese warships and cargo vessels transporting building materials were spotted around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands.

WMC research team presents findings on oystersResearch by two Western Maryland College students and a faculty mentor on the harvesting of oysters found that they grow better on hollow concrete tubes.C. Wayne Parks of Westminster and Cameron Speir of Denton recently presented their findings from "The Rejuvenation of Oyster Populations Using Artificial Substrates as Reef Materials" the annual meeting of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR).Oysters grow naturally on reefs constructed of old shells and other viable oysters, according to WMC biology professor and research mentor Sam Alspach.

It looked like pandemonium when more than 200 children and parents attended the Savage library's "Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor" program last week -- and several weeks of planning and work by volunteers and staff paid off.Balloon octopuses hung from the ceiling, converting the meeting room into a facsimile of the ocean.The walls were covered with paper cut-outs of reefs and algae, and special activity stations were installed around the room.Because the program took its theme from the popular children's science series, "The Magic School Bus," the first activity station included a two-foot plastic bus for children to play on.To the accompaniment of music from "The Little Mermaid," the children sampled foods found under and around the sea and played on a beach area (a blue tarp)

The moment I enter the sea, gravity ceases. Scuba gear in place, I am suddenly free -- free to sink, to swim in any direction I please, to turn somersaults or float like a great leaf flirting with the sky. In a very real sense, diving is flight -- a wingless, weightless, effortless sojourn through a world of wondrous life, mystery and magic.Beneath me, tawny-colored hard corals, like so many uplifted arms, stretch toward the sun; a dense carpet of sea fans and soft corals gently undulates with the sea's rhythms; bright orange sponges punctuate the greens, blues, purples, reds and yellows of neighboring creatures.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday that the owner of a cargo vessel that runs aground after pulling away from its moorings cannot force others to share the blame, if errors by the vessel's own captain caused the grounding.The justices upheld a lower-court ruling that the captain's mishandling of a drifting vessel, causing its loss, absolves the maker of the gear that failed and set the ship adrift.Yesterday's decision arose from the 1989 loss of the Exxon Houston, a 72,000-ton, 766-foot oil tanker that hit an undersea coral reef off Oahu in Hawaii.

You have got to love a country where they name their towns Gallon Jug, Doublehead Cabbage and Never Delay, and where they call the flowers "hot lips," "Polly redhead" and "stinking toe."Add the world's second largest barrier reef, lush rain forests teeming with exotic flora and fauna and a generous share of ancient Mayan ruins to that easygoing sense of humor.It's no wonder active travelers are putting Belize at the top of their "must see" lists.Belize, formerly British Honduras and now a member of the British Commonwealth, is on the Caribbean, or east, coast of the Yucatan peninsula.

Proving once more that its reputation as Baltimore's premier tourist attraction is no fish story, the National Aquarium reported record-breaking attendance of 1.63 million in 1995.dTC The 14 1/2 -year-old aquarium, the state's top paid tourist attraction, surpassed its record set in 1992 of 1.55 million visitors.Last year's surge in attendance came primarily as a result of the reopening of the Atlantic Coral Reef and the shark exhibits in April, aquarium leaders said yesterday.They also pointed to increased marketing, including promotional campaigns by the nonprofit Downtown Partnership; the debut of a new dolphin show last year; and mild weather throughout the year.

SOLOMONS -- The crane operator aboard the U.S. Army barge Bemis Heights shifted a lever, and several tons of %J concrete and pipe were lowered to the floor of Chesapeake Bay, joining many tons of structure already placed 25 feet deep off Little Cove Point at the mouth of the Patuxent River.Cameras clicked, video cameras whirred and DeWitt Myatt began to answer questions, laying out a small part of a large plan that is expected to help restore oyster and fish populations."Hunters and fishermen know that the edges of habitat are very productive areas in which to take game or fish," said Myatt, program leader of artificial reef development for the Department of Natural Resources.

Imagine your doorbell rings and, to your surprise, it's a colorful school of 1,500 tropical fish. Actually, they wouldn't even bother to ring your doorbell - they would just stream in through your open windows and swirl around, staring at you while you're eating breakfast. or taking a shower or writing an absurd column on a home fish invasion. It would be alarming, to say the least. Their uninvited presence would seem intrusive, unnatural. This is because fish don't really belong in our world, just as I have concluded that I don't really belong in theirs.

Oyster reef in Severn River wins ecosystem award 2 The Federal Highway Administration has awarded its Exemplary Ecosystem Initiative Award to the Maryland Transportation Authority, the Department of Natural Resources, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other partners for creating the Asquith Creek Oyster Reef in the Severn River last fall. The 3-acre reef provides a sanctuary for 4 million juvenile oysters and was made from demolished concrete from the Bay Bridge Preservation Project. Its purpose is improving the Chesapeake Bay water quality and was done as part of the state's sustainable growth program, Smart, Green & Growing, created by Gov. Martin O'Malley last year.

ABOARD THE YNOT MABEL - A massive front-end loader wrestled more than 40 stainless steel New York City subway cars off a barge yesterday, swinging them one by one over the gray, choppy water before releasing them with a splash. Some of the cars lingered briefly on the surface before heading for the ocean bottom 85 feet below. Others rolled on their side, emitting hisses as water rushed in and air escaped, creating tiny geysers like whales exhaling. One by one, they became Maryland's most-ambitious offshore artificial reef project to create homes for fish and an underwater playground for divers.

OCEAN CITY -- Just weeks ago, New York City commuters were packed in 46 stainless steel subway cars like sardines. This week, the rail cars will begin housing real fish as part of a project to restore an offshore site favored by anglers but ravaged by time and the elements. Weather permitting, a barge is expected to move into position 19 miles off Ocean City at the "Jackspot" and offload the cars into 85 feet of water. Within days, biologists say, sea bass, tautog and smaller fish that serve as a food source will begin to fill the insides.

March 24 1989 The U.S.' worst oil spill occurred as the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons of crude.

PHILADELPHIA-- --There are people in Maryland who could write a $200,000 check for a boat without batting an eye. The owner of the Orioles comes to mind. The owner of the Ravens is another. A number of corporations and foundations could do it, too. It becomes a harder sell, however, when the boat in question is a retired 563-foot Navy destroyer that has a date later this year with Davy Jones' locker. Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative volunteers have their eyes on the ex-Radford, a vessel mothballed at Aker Philadelphia Shipyard.

With a few ticks left on the clock, it's an iffy proposition to pick the strangest outdoors stories of the year. I mean, what happens if Diamond Jim, the Howard Hughes of Maryland striped bass, gets reeled in tomorrow? Not likely. Old DJ probably was snapped up by a Virginia angler down at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and is a candidate for freezer burn right now. Let the games begin. Like mother, like ... Debbie Bitter was southbound on Route 213, heading for Centreville in her Chevy TrailBlazer on the evening of Nov. 9. Several miles away on the Eastern Shore, her daughter Morgan Baker was behind the wheel of her Nissan Xterra on Route 544, just outside Crumpton.

Bureaucratic red tape has placed Maryland's fledgling artificial-reef program in financial straits that might require a $480,000 bailout by the Department of Natural Resources. A $500,000 bond bill approved by the General Assembly last session was supposed to ensure that contractors from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement project got paid for delivering concrete and steel construction debris to sites in the Chesapeake Bay. But "boilerplate" language in the contract between the state and the guardians of the nonprofit Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative is preventing the bond money from being transferred to the program.

As we wrap up this weekend of turkey and all that goes with it, let us pause to give thanks for one of the true lifesavers of our time: sweat pants. No kidding, where would we be this weekend without our cozy, expandable friends? Of course, there are other reasons to be thankful. For Pat Gary of Millers, it's the freezer full of venison on its way from the butcher after a successful day bow hunting at Prettyboy Reservoir on Nov. 9. Gary, the older brother of state fisheries biologist Marty Gary, took an 8-point buck that weighed 186 pounds field dressed, the largest he has ever taken in 30 years of hunting.

When the Temple M pulled out of St. Jerome Creek last week and headed east for Point No Point, another charter boat already was sitting atop the artificial reef and working birds wheeled in the misty-gray sky above. A good sign. Although several of us positively twitched at the thought of grabbing rods from the overhead racks and joining the party, work was on our agenda. We wanted to see the recently completed reef off St. Mary's County from the bottom up. The deck of Capt. Greg Madjeski's boat, from cabin to stern, was decorated in wet suits, dry suits, oxygen bottles and high-tech camera equipment.