The artificial reef will provide additional habitat for juvenile fish and offer anglers increased fishing opportunity on Vernon Lake.
The reef will be composed of PVC pipe that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill. Woody debris like trees and branches make for great artificial cover and are part of the habitat enhancement tool kit. However, wood and small limbs decompose relatively quickly and buoyancy can sometimes be an issue. Longer lasting artificial structures, using more durable materials, maximizes the benefits over time, so in recent years LDWF has switched to plastic as the material of choice for freshwater artificial reef structures.
Material for this project was secured through a partnership with Entergy Louisiana and the Vernon Parish Game and Fish Commission.
This project on Vernon Lake will increase the LDWF freshwater artificial reef total to 69 reefs on 15 waterbodies across the state. For more information about the locations of our artificial reefs across the state, check out our ‘Outdoor Explorer Map Tool’ at: http://arcg.is/0GuDKb and then click the 'Get on the Water' tab.
LDWF staff will be available to media at the Spillway Park on the south end of Vernon Lake at noon on Thursday for interviews and to facilitate photos of reefs on the lake bed after deployment.