Cape Cod Bay targeted for a new artificial reef after success of previous reefs in Nantucket Sound

2016 MA DMF photo of artificial reef in Harwich.

DENNIS/BREWSTER – The Dennis and Brewster Select Boards are in support of a new artificial reef in Cape Cod Bay that has been proposed by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

The reef would cover about ten acres using 35,000 cubic yards of natural materials and clean concrete.

Historically, local reefs were naturally created by shipwrecks. Then in 1978, the DMF helped develop the first-ever artificial reef in Nantucket Sound, south of the Bass River in Yarmouth. That reef was constructed using tires filled with concrete.

Another reef was completed in 2016 south of Saquatucket Harbor in Harwich, using material from the demolished Harwich High School.

Mark Rousseau with the DMF told the Dennis Select Board that the man-made underwater structure is typically built for the purpose of promoting marine life in areas with a generally-featureless bottom.

Rousseau said there were constituent requests for reefs in Cape Cod Bay, building off the success with the reefs in Nantucket Sound.

The state says commercial fishing activity is banned in the area of the Harwich reef, making it the first and only reef site in Massachusetts that is dedicated exclusively to recreational saltwater fishing.

The south-side reefs have provided the habitat that was intended, said Kimberley Pearson, chair of the Brewster Natural Resources Advisory Committee. “Lots of good new fishing, near-shore fishing. They have also been monitored for colonization by invertebrates, different kinds of clams and crabs and that sort of thing,” she said.

Speaking to the Brewster Select Board on May 12th, Pearson reported archaeologists used sonar to scan the area of Cape Cod Bay where the future reef site has been proposed. They did not find any shipwrecks, however, Pearson told the board they did find a small airplane, which is now the subject of an investigation.

Brewster Select Board member Ned Chatelain, a previous Florida resident, said that state has had a lot of success with artificial reefs helping to reconstruct the ecosystem and also with tourism, and he hoped that Brewster could similarly benefit.

The DMF says all permits should be in hand within a year.