Reef balls are being planted on the Tilghman Reef this week.
The Coastal Conservation Association Maryland and the group's northern Virginia chapter is scheduled to plant 140 reef balls west of Tilghman Island in Talbot County on Wednesday.
The association says the reef balls will triple the size of the existing reef, making it one of the largest man-made, three-dimensional reefs in the middle of Maryland's portion of the Chesapeake Bay.
The reef will provide habitat for fish, oysters, invertebrate filter feeders and other marine life. Half of the 140 reef balls were set with baby oysters at the Oyster Restoration Center of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Shady Side, Maryland.
The reef was started a year ago with 72 reef balls.
