Its Division of Marine Fisheries sank the tugboat Thomas Dann at a reef site called AR-305, off Cape Lookout, on August 1, 2024, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality . The tug was built in 1981 and suffered a catastrophic fire in 2016. A tugboat ruined by fire found a new job at the bottom of the ocean. Marinex Construction Co. of Charleston, South Carolina, donated the vessel to the state’s Artificial Reef Program. Now it rests on a reef that is a favorite haunt of fishermen and divers.
One might wonder if these human-made reefs really help fish? They compared fish on artificial reefs with fish on natural reefs, like rocky and coral reefs. The team looked at four things: the number of fish living there, the total weight of the fish, the number of different species there, and the variety of those species. The findings were promising. Artificial reefs had similar fish densities, biomass, species richness, and diversity as the natural reefs. In simpler terms, a man-made reef can have almost the same amount of fish and just as many kinds of fish as a natural reef in the area. The researchers also found that minor differences in the findings were associated with the location and the material of the reef.
A 2020 study by Paxton and colleagues in Frontiers in Marine Science looked exactly at that. Researchers from NOAA centers examined 39 studies from around the world.
Still, the review included reefs in water shallower than 150 meters (about 490 feet), and AR-305 lies at 105 feet. It won’t tell us how Thomas Dann will do in the future. Because this study is a broad review and not a look at this one reef, that’s important here.
The authors say that reefs should be used strategically, based on local scientific assessment and resource needs. Artificial reefs can be effective tools if they are designed with the local area in mind. Most of us probably think of shipwrecks as sad endings. This one looks more like a fresh start, a second life. Two older ships and concrete, along with a fire-damaged tug, now sit on the seafloor, giving marine life a safe home in their nooks and crannies.
