SUMMARY OF THE 2^ND MEETING OF THE

DNR ARTIFICIAL REEF COMMITTEE (ARC)

TAWES STATE OFFICE BUILDING, C-1, ANNAPOLIS, MD

TUESDAY, July 24, 2007, 6 PM-9PM

Prepared by Erik R. Zlokovitz

Fisheries Biologist, MD DNR-Fisheries Service

START OF MEETING/LIST OF ATTENDEES:

Marty Gary of MDDNR convened the 2^nd meeting of the MDDNR Artificial Reef Committee (ARC) at 6pm on 7/24/07 in the C-1 Conference room, Tawes State Office building, Annapolis, MD. Members of the ARC and proxies in attendance included:

-Marty Gary, MD DNR Liaison

-Erik Zlokovitz, MD DNR Liaison

-Kent Carlson, Private Citizen

-Bill Goldsborough, CBF

-Terry McGean, Town of Ocean City (Proxy for Gail Blazer)

-Captain Mark Galasso, Chesapeake Guides Association

-Ed Liccione, CCA

-Dolden Moore, BPW

-Capt. Greg Madjeski, MCBA

-Capt. Marty Simounet, MCBA

-Gary Setzer, MDE

-Bill Huppert, MSSA

-C.D. Dollar, Outdoor Writers/The Fisherman Magazine

-Rich Takacs, NOAA-Restoration Center

-Capt. Bruno Vasta, Solomons Charter Captain Association and CBARC

-Capt. Rick Younger, MD DNR Liaison/MGS

-Brandon Ghrist, MES (Proxy for Tom Humbles)

-Capt. Curtis Johns, Tangier Sound and Lower Eastern Shore Charter Boats

-Capt. Dicky Webster, Tangier Sound Charter Boats

-David Dansberger, SFAC

Others in attendance included:

-Mike Baker, Environmental Manager, Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project

-Clint Waters, MSSA

-Bob Geisler, MSSA

-Andrew Loftus, Andy Loftus Consulting

-Todd Chason, on behalf of Honeywell Corp.

-Steph McReynolds, CBF

INTRODUCTION/GREETINGS/ANNOUNCMENTS:

Marty Gary noted that Rick Younger and Jeff Halka were added to the list of ARC/DNR liaisons, because of their technical expertise and survey work with MGS, including operation of the DNR/MGS research vessel (R/V Kerhin).

Marty noted that Barge #9 from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project had been deployed on 7/9/07 at the lower Tangier Sound Reef site (near Fox Is. Buoy, off Crisfield). This was the first deployment of material from the WW Bridge project at this reef site. The operation was conducted with support from Capt. Curtis Johns. An “Appendix A” planning document from the MD Reef plan was filled out for this site. The reef material was set on an edge on hard bottom, where water depths drop from roughly 20 feet down to 40 feet. This first deployment at Tangier used 1100 tons of material, and created a row cross-tide (perpendicular to current) approximately 50-60 feet long, with vertical relief as high as 4 feet in some areas. The main purpose of this deployment was to build a hard-base for reef material at Tangier.

The remaining MARI funding balance at the date of this meeting (7/24/07) was $3,000 after payment for barges 2-8 from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project. Cost for each barge from #2-8 ranged from $7,000-$52,000, with unit cost of material ranging from $20.00-$22.50 per ton.

A ceremony recognizing the contribution of money from Dominion LNG for a reef building project is planned for late summer of 2007. The Governor of MD would be invited to this event. Funds from Dominion would be slated for a new proposed reef site at the “Gooses” fishing grounds in middle Chesapeake Bay.

According to Mike Baker of the WW Bridge Project, the reef site under construction at Pt. No Point is approximately 50% done. The target/goal of 10 feet of vertical relief has been reached in many sections of the reef.

Maryland has requested 600 retired subway cars from NYC for deployment off the coast of Ocean City, MD. This operation has been bumped back from August, 2007 to late-September, 2007 at the earliest, due to logistical issues. Maryland is at the top of the priority list to receive subway cars for reef construction. However, the southernmost states along the east coast, such as South Carolina, would get delivery first. EPA region 3 (Philadelphia office) predicted the life span of these cars to be approximately 40 years. Concerns about asbestos are minimal, since the relatively small amounts of asbestos in the cars are encapsulated in a hard epoxy.

Steph McReynolds of CBF announced an open house/tour of the CBF oyster restoration facility in Shady Side. This event was designed to inform the public about oyster restoration efforts in the Bay.

Honeywell Branding Exercise:

Todd Chason spoke on behalf of Honeywell Corp. and discussed the company’s intention to conduct a branding exercise on a reef deployment operation in the lower Chesapeake Bay. The company has given money to the MARI funds and wants to promote reef activities in a shore and water-based event. They plan to place a banner on a barge with reef materials and also hold a shore based event, most likely in Solomons.

Vote for Chairman of the ARC:

Ballots were distributed for election of the ARC chairman. The term will last for two years. Two ARC members expressed interest in serving as chairman: Bill Goldsborough of CBF and Capt. Monty Hawkins of the Ocean City Party Boats and Ocean City Reef Foundation. Ballots were collected and counted after the meeting.

Bill Goldsborough won the vote for chair by a count of 13 to 6.

PRESENTATION ON WOODROW WILSON BRIDGE PROJECT-Mike Baker:

Mike Baker gave a presentation on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project, including dismantling and demolition of the old WW Bridge on the Potomac River and projected deployments during the month of August and Fall 2007/Winter 2008. Tangier Sound Reef and Pt. No Point Reef projects are currently underway. The ARC needs to determine where material should go next, and which projects get priority for material.

Mike has spent a total of approximately 10 years working on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project. The reef building portion of the project is about 1 year old (started in August of 2007.) The new bridge has been accommodating traffic since July of 2006.

The old WW Bridge which is being taken apart for reef material is made up of concrete deck material, steel, superstructure, and large concrete columns along the base of the bridge. Material is being barged down the Potomac River to build reefs. The total cost of barges # 1-9 was $228,779.00. Barges #1-8 were deployed at the Point No Point Reef. Barge #9 was deployed at the Tangier Sound Reef.

The cost of the Pt. No Pt. Reef construction ranged from $20.00-$22.50 per ton of material. The cost of the Tangier Sound Reef deployment was higher at $28.00 per ton due to higher transport costs. A total of 60,000 tons of material has been placed over a one year time period.

In general, most of the material has been placed to build rows perpendicular to the tidal flow, which creates a “hydraulic jump”, turbulence and tide rips which attract feeding gamefish. “Large Material” for reef building includes barriers, and deckslabs weighing up to 30 tons each. In more recent reef deployments, smaller deckslabs weighing about 15 tons each have been used, which are more manageable. Other large material includes 100 ton bridge caps, columns weighing 30+ tons, and a 70 ton trunion tower.

Large amounts of post-blast concrete rubble material ranging from gravel up to boulder size pieces, but averaging 12-15 inches in diameter, have settled on the Potomac Riverbed and must be clamshelled off the bottom and loaded onto barges, after mud has been sifted out. The operation deals with various difficulties. First of all, the operation on the River must be finished by February 2008, due to conflicts with endangered shortnose sturgeon migrations, and other anadromous fish issues. Torches must be used to burn off rebar protruding from rubble and asphalt must be milled off.

In some spots on the Point No Point Reef, 5-8 feet of vertical relief are visible. The reef base was built in about 32 feet of water, and the top of the reef is now up to about 25 feet in some places.

Projections of reef deployments from WW Bridge project:

Mike Baker noted that August would be a very busy month for reef deployments from the WW bridge project. He projected 2-4 bargeloads would be ready for the week of July 30^th. In theory, 2 loads of deck slabs could go to Tangier to continue building up that reef base and 2 loads of post-blast rubble could go to Pt. No Pt. (PNP), in a one week period. A total of 4 bargeloads of material would be needed to build up the reef at Tangier Sound.

Mike projected that 1-3 bargeloads of material per week may be delivered from the end of July through at least September. Potential deployment sites for this period would be Tangier Sound, Cedar Pt., Little Cove Pt., and PNP. During the fall months and and until mid-February 2008, 1-2 bargeloads will be delivered per week. It is hoped that the PNP reef can be finished during this time, and that a reef base can be started at the proposed Gooses site (after the Gooses site permit process is completed). Each bargeload would typically contain 900-1200 tons of material.

Rich Takacs of NOAA noted that he had access to new side-scan sonar technology which could be used to generate high-res 3-D images of reef profiles. There is an interest in using this technology to judge the progress and status of the single cross-current row of reef material at PNP.

Discussion of Cedar Pt. Site vs. Little Cove Pt. Site and Honeywell Media Event:

A discussion took place regarding the two reef sites in the Solomons Area: Cedar Pt. And Little Cove Pt. The Cedar Pt. Reef site at the mouth of the Patuxent River is about 155 acres in size and has mostly harder bottom according to Solomons area charter captains. As in other MD state fish reef sites, the authorized minimum depth is 15 feet. The Little Cove Pt. Reef site seems to have more soft bottom as compared to the Cedar Pt. Site. This site is near the fishing ground known as the “Chinese Muds”. Cedar Point was chosen as a better site at which to conduct a branding exercise with Honeywell Corp. The shore-based media event will be at Solomons, and about 10 days of prep time are needed. The event will require about 3 support boats-most likely charter boats from the Solomons area. This event will take place before end of summer, probably mid or late August.

Discussion of Taylor’s Is. Reef Site:

Capt. Bruno Vasta and Marty Gary briefly discussed the Taylor’s Is. Reef site. This site may need to be re-configured due to issues with shipping traffic near this reef site. Due to post 9-11 security concerns and activity at the Cove Pt. Gas Docks, shipping traffic is being pushed further towards the eastern channel edge and close to the Taylor’s Is. Reef site. Due to potential problems at this site, it is not considered a high-priority for deployments in the near future.

Long-term outlook for WW Project:

Mike Baker noted that large material would be available in mid-fall from WW Bridge as dismantling of the old bridge continues. Explosive demolition (Potomac Constructors or “PC”) will be taking place in September, October, and November. This will result in more post-blast rubble material being available from September, 2007-February, 2008.

Goals of WW Bridge Project:

· Complete placement of WW reef material by mid-February, 2008.

· Build out PNP reef to 10 feet of vertical relief. (*Note-Approximately 10 more barges may be needed to finish PNP reef. The center of the reef is about 5 feet high, with close to 10 feet of relief around each sunken barge on the western and eastern ends of the reef.)

· Deliver four (4) additional bargeloads of material to Tangier Sound.

· Deliver sufficient material to Cedar Point and/or Little Cove Pt. (Cedar Pt. seems to be the preferable site).

· Deliver at least 10,000 tons of reef material to the new proposed Gooses site (Fall, 2008)

· Cooperate with Honeywell Corp. and Dominion Power for PR/Press Events.

REEF PLANNING ACTIVITIES FOR AUGUST, 2007:

· 3-D images and sediment grab data will be available from MGS for the proposed Gooses site. This will show profile of “plateaus” and trenches and show soft vs. hard bottom areas.

· Discussion of possible elimination of older reef sites (stop permits) especially in the upper Bay, north of the Bay Bridge.

· Next meeting of ARC will be scheduled in late August, 2007.

· Approximately 10-12 barges will be deployed between late July and late August, with at least half of those going to PNP.

· 4 buoys need to be placed at Cedar Pt. reef site ASAP by MDDNR Hydrographic Operations in order to mark 4 corners of deployment area.

· MGS will do bottom survey at Cedar Pt. reef site to describe and map out soft and hard bottom areas.

REEF DEPLOYMENT/CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE FOR AUGUST, 2007:

The ARC decided on the following reef deployment/construction schedule for late July/August, 2007:

· Week of 7/30/07: 1-2 Barges of rubble to PNP and 2 Barges of large deck slabs to Tangier Sound.

· Week of 8/6/07: 1-2 Barges of rubble to PNP and 1 Barge of large deck slabs to Cedar Pt. (*Note-This is the practice run/dry run for the Honeywell Press Event to be held Week of 8/13/07).

· Week of 8/13/07: Honeywell media event, 1 Barge deck slabs to Cedar Pt. and 1-2 Barges rubble to PNP.

· Week of 8/20/07: 1-2 Barges of rubble to PNP and 2 Barges to Tangier Sound.

· Week of 8/27/07: 1-2 Barges of rubble to PNP and 1 Barge of large deck slabs to PNP + 1 Barge of large deck slabs to Tangier.

C.D. Dollar gave a motion for verbal approval of this schedule, followed by e-mail confirmation. Motion seconded by Capt. Monty Hawkins and Capt. Bruno Vasta. Motion is approved by the majority.

INVENTORY/DESCRIPTION AND STATUS OF EXISTING CHESAPEAKE BAY REEF SITES:

Marty Gary ran through an inventory of existing reef sites in the upper and middle Maryland Chesapeake Bay. For more info on existing sites, please refer to the document by the Maryland Charter Boat Association (MCBA) which describes and grades each existing reef site.

UPPER BAY REEF SITES:

· Three sites near Tolchester: Feedback from upper Bay charter captains suggests that these reefs are not productive and may be de-activated. However, some members of the ARC expressed concern about deactivating any reef sites. More info and discussion needed.

· Memorial Stadium Reef Site: This is a successful upper Bay reef site, supported by volunteer efforts of Bill Huppert of MSSA and many other volunteers, including school groups. Approximately 595 reef-balls have been deployed here, and live oysters and mussels have been observed.

· Love Pt. Reef: According to Mark Galasso, about 2/3 of this site is now mud-bottom, but there is some structure which holds fish and has produced angling success recently.

MIDDLE BAY REEF SITES:

· Dolly’s lump: Feedback from area charter captains indicates this is not a good area to deploy large material. The site already contains about 100 reef balls and the water is relatively shallow.

· Hollicut’s Noose: Good white perch/striped bass/bluefish habitat. Also good for oyster growth.

· Eastern Bay-Shallow water oyster sanctuary reefs: Chris Judy noted that there are some successful shallow water oyster reefs in Eastern Bay which are not marked on standard nautical charts. These sites are marked in a DNR booklet.

· Holland Pt.: Low value site, mostly soft bottom. Feedback from local charter captains suggest a “cease and desist” order here. Additional deployments not recommended here.

· Chesapeake Beach Site: Low value site. Not much fishing success reported here.

· Tilghman Is. Reef: Some recent work has been done here. For ore info refer to MCBA reef document.

· Plum Pt. Reef Site: Very controversial site due to scattered placement of large material which tends to snag up trolling gear in this area. Capt. Marty Simounet suggested this site can be productive, but is difficult to fish.

WRAP-UP AND NEXT MEETING:

Ed Liccionne will send around a summary of Marketing/MARI project. Next ARC meeting scheduled for 8/28/07. Meeting ends at about 9pm.