{"id":11188,"date":"2017-06-23T03:14:34","date_gmt":"2017-06-23T07:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=11188"},"modified":"2017-06-23T13:14:21","modified_gmt":"2017-06-23T17:14:21","slug":"watch-crews-build-new-artificial-reef-off-point-pleasant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2017\/06\/watch-crews-build-new-artificial-reef-off-point-pleasant\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Crews Build New Artificial Reef off Point Pleasant"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"v-qhZOpkHs-1\" class=\"video-player\"><iframe title='VideoPress Video Player' aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='1000' height='562' src='https:\/\/videopress.com\/embed\/qhZOpkHs?hd=1&cover=1&loop=0&autoPlay=0&permalink=1&muted=0&controls=1&playsinline=0&useAverageColor=0&preloadContent=metadata' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent=\"true\" allow='clipboard-write'><\/iframe><script src='https:\/\/s0.wp.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/video\/assets\/js\/next\/videopress-iframe.js'><\/script><\/div>\n<p>Under hot, hazy summer skies Thursday, the Jersey Shore\u2019s newest fishing destination was born.<\/p>\n<p>Piece by piece, crews from Reicon Group, a marine construction company that usually undertakes massive development projects, spent their afternoon deploying 1,500 tons of concrete castings from a barge to the ocean floor. As a tug boat steadied the barge, a front loader pushed each piece of structure into the water, creating what will become both a habitat for marine life an a recreational angler\u2019s paradise. The materials were donated by Garden State Precast, of Wall.<\/p>\n<p>The Manasquan Inlet reef is just 1.2 miles east of the inlet, just beyond the red \u201csea buoy.\u201d It will be off-limits to commercial fishermen, and the closest reef to inland waters, making the journey to sea under 10 minutes for anglers breaking the inlet.<\/p>\n<p>The creation of the reef is the culmination of a long and drawn-out political fight between recreational and commercial anglers. Recreational anglers have argued for years that a tax on fishing equipment and marine fuel help build reefs, only so they can lined with commercial pots, making them inaccessible to the average angler. In exchange for allowing commercial pots to remain on some reefs, the state agreed to build two new reefs which will be reserved for recreational anglers only. One of those is the Manasquan Inlet reef \u2013 the other will be located in Delaware Bay.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4218\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/reef_2.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4218\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4218\" src=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/reef_2-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"Structure is deployed into the ocean as part of the Manasquan Inlet Reef. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4218\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Structure is deployed into the ocean as part of the Manasquan Inlet Reef. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Peter Clarke, a biologist with the state\u2019s\u00a0Bureau of Marine Fisheries, has led the state\u2019s reef program for years. He was on hand Thursday for the deployment, said the site was chosen because of its easy accessibility for a large number of anglers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s great about this reef is that it\u2019s in state water, so there\u2019s no commercial fishing on it at all, and it\u2019s obviously very close,\u201d Clarke said. \u201cWhat we were looking for was non-descript bottom \u2013 an area that had no structure currently on it \u2013 and a place that will be utilized by a lot of anglers.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4219\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/reef_3.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4219\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4219\" src=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/reef_3-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"Structure is deployed into the ocean as part of the Manasquan Inlet Reef. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4219\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Structure is deployed into the ocean as part of the Manasquan Inlet Reef. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_4220\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/reef_4.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-2\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4220\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4220\" src=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/reef_4-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"Structure is deployed into the ocean as part of the Manasquan Inlet Reef. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4220\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Structure is deployed into the ocean as part of the Manasquan Inlet Reef. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The 1,500 tons of concrete will make the reef especially popular for drift fishing, the primary method of catching summer flounder and black sea bass from boats. Other reefs are designed with structure to which boats can anchor to catch other species. The Manasquan Inlet reef is located between two other reefs \u2013 the Sea Girt and Axel Carlson reefs. While smaller in area, the new reef will likely become very popular, and the concrete castings are just the beginning of what will be sunk there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be an exciting year for the Manasquan Inlet reef,\u201d said Clarke.\u201dWe have an 87-foot dragger that\u2019s going to be deployed later this month, and we\u2019re getting the Goethals Bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In August, crews will begin deploying material from the former bridge that connects New Jersey and Staten Island. A new Goethals Bridge recently opened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also have a 92-foot fire tug boat,\u201d Clarke said, which will be sunk as a memorial reef for first responders.<\/p>\n<p>Funding for the reef was also provided by the\u00a0Great Point Pleasant Charter Boat Association, Ocean Reef Foundation and SportsFishingFund.org.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If You Go<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3955\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/NEW_REEF.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-3\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3955\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3955\" src=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/NEW_REEF-1024x580.jpg\" alt=\"he new Manaquan Inlet Reef site, authorized this week. (Illustration: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"640\" height=\"363\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3955\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The new Manaquan Inlet Reef site, authorized this week. (Illustration: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_4226\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-2.37.29-AM.png\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-4\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4226\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4226\" src=\"http:\/\/lavallette-seaside.shorebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-23-at-2.37.29-AM-1024x284.png\" alt=\"Coordinates of the Manasquan Inlet Reef (Source: NJDEP)\" width=\"640\" height=\"178\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4226\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coordinates of the Manasquan Inlet Reef (Source: NJDEP)<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fb-share-button fcbkbttn_large_button \" data-href=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2017\/06\/watch-crews-build-new-artificial-reef-off-point-pleasant\/\" data-type=\"button_count\" data-size=\"large\"><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Under hot, hazy summer skies Thursday, the Jersey Shore\u2019s newest fishing destination was born. Piece by piece, crews from Reicon Group, a marine construction company that usually undertakes massive development projects, spent their afternoon deploying 1,500 tons of concrete castings from a barge to the ocean floor. As a tug boat steadied the barge, a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-11188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boating-fishing","tag-brick-nj-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/reef_2.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-2Us","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}