ABSTRACT

Marine anglers in the United States have used artificial reefs to enhance their fishing efforts for over 100 years. The next recorded reef construction effort occurred about 1916 and was well organized by the Boatmen’s Association of Great South Bay, NY. Many of these individuals made their living by taking out recreational fishermen. The Association constructed a series of reefs near Fire Island Inlet made of butter tubs half filled with cement with a four-inch diameter stake from 0.61 to 0.91 m long sticking up from the center of the tub. Ocean artificial reef construction began in earnest in 1935 with the sinking of four vessels and tons of other material on the Cape May-Wildwood, NJ Fishing Preserve by the Cape May-Wildwood Party Boat Association. An ambitious program, the first reef building effort recorded for the Gulf of Mexico, was initiated by the Alabama Department of Conservation and cooperating sportsmen’s groups in 1954.