Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the final 2020 deployment of rail cars to the state’s artificial reef network, bringing the total number of rail cars added to reefs in New York to 75. Rail cars were donated by Wells Fargo Rail Corporation during the third year of New York’s historic expansion of artificial reefs. The rail cars used for the reef expansion are cleaned to mitigate potential impacts to sea life before being deployed to the reef sites.
The first 16 of the 75 rail cars donated by Wells Fargo Corporation, as well as a steel turbine and the 70-foot tugboat “Jane”, were placed on Hempstead Reef. In October 2020, another 16 rail cars were deployed on the Atlantic Beach Reef. In November, 16 additional rail cars were deployed on the Fire Island Reef, and 16 more rail cars were placed on the Twelve Mile Reef. Lastly in December, seven rail cars were added to Shinnecock Reef and the final four rail cars were deployed to Moriches Reef.
In the 2020 State of the State address, Governor Cuomo committed to doubling New York’s existing reef acreage by 2022. DEC released the Notice of Complete Application to expand seven of the State’s existing 12 artificial reef sites and create four new sites for public review and comment. Currently, New York’s existing artificial reefs cover approximately 3,389 acres. This proposal would expand New York’s reefs by an additional 3,423 acres for a total of 6,812 acres.