The state Division of Fish and Wildlife last week added a more than 100-foot-long and 40-foot-high caisson gate to an artificial reef about 8.8 miles off the coast of Absecon Island. Caisson gates are made of heavy gauge steel and are used to dam off the open end of dry docks.

The reef is one of 17 similar projects encompassing 25 miles of the sea floor in waters across the state under the Bureau of Marine Fisheries’s Artificial Reef Program. They are created to provide additional habitat for marine life, grounds for anglers and underwater structures for scuba divers.