Selected Comments:

First Artificial Reefs in Area
"They are the first artificial reefs in southeast Alaska built of local, natural materials," said NOAA Fisheries Marine Resources Specialist Sue Walker, who developed the project in cooperation with the other organizations.

NOAA Fisheries worked with partners in 2006 and 2007 to place manmade artificial reefs to enhance habitat in Shotgun Cove near Whittier, Alaska. Local groups facilitated sinking vessels north of Auke Bay in 2003 for recreational diving opportunities, but not for fish habitat.

An Ideal Spawning Habitat
The Lynn Canal reefs are two flat-topped structures made of angular quarry rock two layers thick with a maximum height of about six feet, Walker said. The two structures, each 30 feet wide by 100 feet long, were placed on sandy bottom and incorporate about 30% open space between the rocks to provide habitat for fish and marine invertebrates such as juvenile rockfish, shrimp and eels. The depth and design are intended to support the settling and growth of kelp and other seaweeds that provide ideal spawning habitat for Pacific herring.