Thursday, August 19, 1999
Stadium finds new life as a lake reef
Rubble from Cleveland landmark home to Erie's fish
BY MIKE WENDLING
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND — The old Cleveland Municipal Stadium is still attracting scores of visitors. Only this time, they aren't sports fans — they're fish.
A joint project by Ohio Sea Grant and the city of Cleveland has turned rubble from the old stadium into artificial underwater reefs teeming with life. The new habitat creates spectacular views for divers and some pretty good fishing.
The reefs are the latest additions to a program designed to provide gathering points for fish in the relatively featureless central Lake Erie basin, said Dave Kelch, an Ohio Sea Grant agent.
Three reefs were built out of concrete from the old stadium, which was demolished so the home of the new Cleveland Browns' could be built on the same spot. That stadium will open Saturday when the Browns play the Minnesota Vikings.
“The reefs are known, marked, close to shore, safe and there's lots of fish,” Mr. Kelch said. “Our studies have shown they concentrate 20 to 60 times the amount of fish than are in non-reef areas.”
The three stadium reefs sit on the lake bottom anywhere from 32 to 36 feet underwater, rising to about 20 feet below the water surface. They're easily accessible by small boat — about three-quarters of a mile offshore — and have a combined length of more than 1,000 feet.
On one recent afternoon, fishermen hauled in two 14-inch-long smallmouth bass within minutes of casting their lines into the water over the Edgewater Park reef.
“At this spot two years ago, you might have sat here all day and you wouldn't catch anything,” said Andy Emrisko, a boat captain and fisherman.
A dive team explores the reef areas once a month, checking lake temperatures, taking pictures and videotaping underwater. Mr. Kelch said the latest diving expedition uncovered just what he was hoping for — an abundance of marine life.
In addition to their recreational uses, the reefs also have research potential. Mr. Kelch and several volunteer anglers tag and record the smallmouth bass they throw back into the water, as part of an ongoing project to track the fishes' movement and to study survival rates for fish that are caught and released.
Walleye, bass and yellow perch congregate around the reef, although they spawn elsewhere.
Ohio Sea Grant's reef project, begun in 1984, was already under way when it was announced that the Great Depression-era Municipal Stadium would come down. When Mr. Kelch heard about the demolition, he approached the city with a proposal to make use of the rubble.
The old stadium was perfect, Mr. Kelch said.
The stadium reefs were constructed offshore of Cleveland in late 1997. About 15,000 tons of rubble — free of oil, paint, asbestos and other contaminants — was broken into pieces, loaded onto a barge, transported to the current sites and dumped into the lake.
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