Swimming With the Fishes
Slabs of the Old Wilson Bridge Find New Life as a Bay Reef
By Megan Greenwell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 26, 2006; B01
The newest hangout for fish in the Chesapeake Bay is 3,900 tons of concrete that held 200,000 cars a day in its previous life as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
Yesterday, cranes pushed 65 slabs from the old bridge -- each the length of three compact cars -- from a barge into the bay at the southern tip of St. Mary's County, at a spot known as Point No Point. There, one-third of the oft-maligned bridge that tormented an estimated 73 billion commuters over 45 years will form an artificial reef for thousands of rockfish, sea trout, striped bass and other fish.
"This whole area is about to become a fish haven," said Gary Madjeski, who captains charter fishing boats from Drury's Marina in Ridge. "This concrete is going to just get better and better in terms of the number of fish."
The concrete will provide a habitat for barnacles and oysters, who have nothing to attach themselves to along the soft, sandy bay floor. Those organisms, in turn, will lure fish, which will be inclined to stick around the artificial reef because the current will wash food sources directly over them.
"There are all sorts of nooks and crannies in the concrete that fish will love in an area that's been completely devoid of life," said Marty Gary, a fisheries ecologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "This will really change the character of this area."
Huge splashes rose as each concrete segment hit the water yesterday, and officials from the Department of Natural Resources and the Wilson Bridge Project celebrated the fulfillment of a project that took several years to plan.
Because placing the concrete in the bay cost significantly more than it would have cost to move it to a landfill or recycle it for the new bridge, fundraising had been a major hurdle. The Department of Natural Resources did not provide the cost of the project, but officials said the agency dedicated an initial $38,000 from the sale of fishing licenses to get the effort going, and the contractors chipped in as well.
Project managers have not decided what to do with the remaining 9,000 cubic yards of concrete from the bridge, but it also could be headed to the bottom of the Chesapeake if more money comes through.
"This could help up to 12 different artificial reefs in the bay and perhaps create two new reefs in St. Mary's County, but we're going to need funding," said Mike Baker, an environmental manager with the Wilson Bridge Project.
For the moment, concrete from the bridge will link two barges that sank 60 yards from each other in the mid-1980s. Those barges are both encrusted with oysters so fish should be drawn to the area immediately, Gary said.
That's good news for commercial and recreational fishermen, who have long faced dwindling fish populations in the Chesapeake. Adding the concrete will draw hundreds of anglers to the region and provide a major boost to the economy, several local residents said.
The number of fishermen in the region has seen a steep decline over the years, putting many charter boat companies and bait stores out of business.
Madjeski said his company has already heard from fishermen eager to test the new site. A friend of his, Bill Miles, sat in his boat while the concrete slabs dropped into the water yesterday and planned to fish all afternoon.
"I plan to be out here fishing a lot," Miles said. "This is about to become the best fishing for miles."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
