The Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative (MARI), announced last Tuesday by the Department of Natural Resources, promises corporate, foundation, conservation group, fisheries organizations, individual, state and perhaps federal cooperation to build fishing reefs throughout Maryland.

The cooperative MARI venture was announced at the Annapolis Boat Yard Bar & Grill by Department of Natural Resources secretary Ron Franks, assistant secretary Mike Slattery, and biologist and project spearhead Marty Gary.

It may be the first project of its kind in the country to blend private, public and individual funding efforts to restore and build fishing reefs to benefit an ecological area. Bridge substrate will provide the hard-bottom base for benthic organisms that are the basis of the Chesapeake Bay food chain. The project will not be limited to the bay, but in time will expand to other Maryland areas.

Initial reef material is from the demolished Woodrow Wilson Bridge, with 30,000 tons of available debris enough to provide for approximately a dozen reef-building efforts. About 4,000 tons of bridge has gone to restore Point No Point reef, with additional material to be added.

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“It will provide the hard substrate necessary for the ecological benefit of historic reef-building oyster communities,” said Gary, a 20-year DNR veteran.

More than 30 recreational fishing and conservation groups are also supporting the project. Initial funding is from the Mitchell Peterson Family Foundation ($100,000), Shell Oil and British Petroleum ($25,000 each), Honeywell Corporation ($35,000), and American Bridge (in-kind barge-cost price reduction).

Other companies and commercial/industry concerns are joining and providing funding under a tax-deductible 501(c)3, administered at no cost by the Maryland Coastal Conservation Association. Individuals are invited to contribute $25 or more to “Buy a Ton for the Bay” through the Web site www.ccamd.org. The monies will fund barging the bridge debris to selected bay areas.

The initial funding in MARI will pay for reef building at Sharps Island.

“This will be the Crown Jewel of the entire Chesapeake Bay reef effort,” Gary said.

There are a dozen potential reef sites on a “wish list” waiting to be vetted and approved, Gary said. These include sites north of Tangier Sound, inside the Choptank at an area called “the airplane wreck” and one south of Point No Point consisting of a natural stone bottom.

My speculation is that once the project is up and running, additional projects could come on line. How about a similar funding project to restore bay grasses? (“Buy Some Eel Grass for the Bay”). Or to completely eliminate destructive invasive mute swans? Or to remove selected bulkheads and restore the crab/fish nursery ground shallows?

Or to pay for ramped-up sewage treatment filtration systems to lessen bay nitrogen and phosphorus pollution? Or to pay for more/wider forest/natural buffer areas along rivulets, streams and rivers to reduce bay siltation?

The start through MARI to rebuild reefs is a great one. The possibilities for additional good here are endless.

C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally-known sportsman and award-winning writer on fishing, hunting, and the outdoors, and is currently working on his 25th book. He can be reached at cbpfeiffer@msn.com.