Tall Tails
Guest
Interesting article from Wednesdays Salem News:
North Shore could be home to artificial reef
By Chris Bernard
Staff writer
BEVERLY If you build it, they will come.
The "it" in question is an artificial reef, and "they" are marine crustaceans and juvenile finfish and Bruce Estrella, a biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, is counting on it.
Estrella is heading up a project to build an artificial reef on the floor of Massachusetts Bay later this year. The North Shore might be just the place for it.
"You want it to be in an area where it's going to be accessible to marine species as well as scientists, taking into consideration depth, sediment quality and slope," he said.
The reef is one of four Marine Fisheries projects funded by a $5 million legal settlement from Algonquin Gas Transmission Co., which built the 30-mile Beverly-to-Weymouth HubLine natural gas pipeline in 2002 and 2003. Algonquin paid the money after missing construction deadlines.
Marine Fisheries is using the money to fund four projects, including efforts to restore eelgrass and anadromous fish such as smelt, and to provide grants to towns to increase shellfish stock, Estrella said.
But it's the artificial reef project that might be coming soon to an ocean floor near you.
Crucial habitat
Much of the seafloor along the 30-mile footprint of the HubLine is made up of gravel, cobble and boulders.That habitat is considered critical to dozens of species at different stages of life, Estrella said. Some, such as lobster, winter flounder, sea scallops, sea urchins and Atlantic cod, are commercially important to the North Shore.
But other fish and invertebrates make their homes there, as well. During early life stages, these creatures are vulnerable to predators and the environment and rely on the complex variety of the ocean floor for safety, nourishment and growth.
To build the pipeline, Algonquin used methods ranging from directional drilling and conventional dredging to plowing and blasting, Estrella said.
"Depending on the type of equipment used, the area of disturbed sediments caused by trenching and backfilling was as wide as 70 feet in some places," he said.
How much damage was done to that crucial habitat and what effect it had is not immediately known. Marine Fisheries used a variety of methods to study the area, including acoustic and optical surveys, suction sampling and species trapping.
The artificial reef was designed to offset the effects of the construction, while providing scientists a way to study the impact of construction on the environment.
The first step was to identify potential sites for the reef using computer mapping software. About 80 percent of the area occupied by the pipeline turned out to be unsuitable for the reef, Estella said.
Sites had to meet a host of criteria covering depth, sediment type, slope, current, established habitats and accessibility.
Researchers isolated about two dozen potential sites near Beverly, Marblehead and Boston and began dive surveys there to study their suitability, Estrella said.
'A naturalistic reef'
The reef itself will cover a total footprint of about 1.75 acres. Rectangular in shape, the area will be broken down into nine smaller rectangles about 130 feet long and 30 feet wide.Each of those rectangles will consist of four segments, or plots, filled with graduated sizes of rock. The smallest will be 6-centimeter cobbles, the largest 75-centimeter boulders."It's a naturalistic reef, as opposed to a scientific design," Estrella said. "We've attempted to create a naturalistic profile."Similar reefs have been created successfully in both Boston Harbor and Narragansett Bay on a smaller scale.Three of the nine rectangular plots will be left devoid of cobble and boulder, he said, to compare to the improved areas.The graduated design of the reef best suits the needs of the environment, Estrella said and of the crustaceans and juvenile fish that depend upon it for shelter."As they grow, they can move into the larger size area," he said. "This will minimize mortality, as they won't have to move out into more open areas looking for bigger shelter."Construction will be contracted out, and the actual reef will be lowered into place using barges and cranes. Once that's done, Marine Fisheries will conduct a monitoring program to track settlement and development of marine life, Estrella said.In the meantime, the agency has begun talking to officials in all three communities where the reef may end up."A number of agencies have to weigh in," Estrella said, "so it's ongoing right now."David Lang, chairman of the Beverly Conservation Commission, said Marine Fisheries made a presentation about the reef at the commission's last meeting."They gave it a lot of thought," he said. "It was a favorable presentation, and I didn't hear any objections on the commission."If Beverly is chosen, the reef would be placed in Beverly Channel, offshore near Salem Willows."Technically it's in city limits, so they have to come before us," said Lang, an environmental consultant who has been on the commission for 14 years. "They've not filed for a permit yet, or what we call an order of condition." Estrella hopes to choose a site by midsummer. He hopes permitting will be complete by the fall, and if all goes smoothly, construction of the reef could happen before the winter.
Tall Tails
North Shore could be home to artificial reef
By Chris Bernard
Staff writer
BEVERLY If you build it, they will come.
The "it" in question is an artificial reef, and "they" are marine crustaceans and juvenile finfish and Bruce Estrella, a biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, is counting on it.
Estrella is heading up a project to build an artificial reef on the floor of Massachusetts Bay later this year. The North Shore might be just the place for it.
"You want it to be in an area where it's going to be accessible to marine species as well as scientists, taking into consideration depth, sediment quality and slope," he said.
The reef is one of four Marine Fisheries projects funded by a $5 million legal settlement from Algonquin Gas Transmission Co., which built the 30-mile Beverly-to-Weymouth HubLine natural gas pipeline in 2002 and 2003. Algonquin paid the money after missing construction deadlines.
Marine Fisheries is using the money to fund four projects, including efforts to restore eelgrass and anadromous fish such as smelt, and to provide grants to towns to increase shellfish stock, Estrella said.
But it's the artificial reef project that might be coming soon to an ocean floor near you.
Crucial habitat
Much of the seafloor along the 30-mile footprint of the HubLine is made up of gravel, cobble and boulders.That habitat is considered critical to dozens of species at different stages of life, Estrella said. Some, such as lobster, winter flounder, sea scallops, sea urchins and Atlantic cod, are commercially important to the North Shore.
But other fish and invertebrates make their homes there, as well. During early life stages, these creatures are vulnerable to predators and the environment and rely on the complex variety of the ocean floor for safety, nourishment and growth.
To build the pipeline, Algonquin used methods ranging from directional drilling and conventional dredging to plowing and blasting, Estrella said.
"Depending on the type of equipment used, the area of disturbed sediments caused by trenching and backfilling was as wide as 70 feet in some places," he said.
How much damage was done to that crucial habitat and what effect it had is not immediately known. Marine Fisheries used a variety of methods to study the area, including acoustic and optical surveys, suction sampling and species trapping.
The artificial reef was designed to offset the effects of the construction, while providing scientists a way to study the impact of construction on the environment.
The first step was to identify potential sites for the reef using computer mapping software. About 80 percent of the area occupied by the pipeline turned out to be unsuitable for the reef, Estella said.
Sites had to meet a host of criteria covering depth, sediment type, slope, current, established habitats and accessibility.
Researchers isolated about two dozen potential sites near Beverly, Marblehead and Boston and began dive surveys there to study their suitability, Estrella said.
'A naturalistic reef'
The reef itself will cover a total footprint of about 1.75 acres. Rectangular in shape, the area will be broken down into nine smaller rectangles about 130 feet long and 30 feet wide.Each of those rectangles will consist of four segments, or plots, filled with graduated sizes of rock. The smallest will be 6-centimeter cobbles, the largest 75-centimeter boulders."It's a naturalistic reef, as opposed to a scientific design," Estrella said. "We've attempted to create a naturalistic profile."Similar reefs have been created successfully in both Boston Harbor and Narragansett Bay on a smaller scale.Three of the nine rectangular plots will be left devoid of cobble and boulder, he said, to compare to the improved areas.The graduated design of the reef best suits the needs of the environment, Estrella said and of the crustaceans and juvenile fish that depend upon it for shelter."As they grow, they can move into the larger size area," he said. "This will minimize mortality, as they won't have to move out into more open areas looking for bigger shelter."Construction will be contracted out, and the actual reef will be lowered into place using barges and cranes. Once that's done, Marine Fisheries will conduct a monitoring program to track settlement and development of marine life, Estrella said.In the meantime, the agency has begun talking to officials in all three communities where the reef may end up."A number of agencies have to weigh in," Estrella said, "so it's ongoing right now."David Lang, chairman of the Beverly Conservation Commission, said Marine Fisheries made a presentation about the reef at the commission's last meeting."They gave it a lot of thought," he said. "It was a favorable presentation, and I didn't hear any objections on the commission."If Beverly is chosen, the reef would be placed in Beverly Channel, offshore near Salem Willows."Technically it's in city limits, so they have to come before us," said Lang, an environmental consultant who has been on the commission for 14 years. "They've not filed for a permit yet, or what we call an order of condition." Estrella hopes to choose a site by midsummer. He hopes permitting will be complete by the fall, and if all goes smoothly, construction of the reef could happen before the winter.
Tall Tails
