California Artificial Reefs

CDFW reef projects by county, depth and material.

Overview

California artificial reefs

CDFW tracks 42 artificial reef projects in California waters: 38 in the Southern area, 3 in the Central area and 1 in the San Francisco area.

3 of them sit outside state waters, where federal rules apply.

quarry rock4 sites

1,000 tons quarry rock each4 sites

10,000 tons quarry rock3 sites

reef balls1 sites

480 concrete culvert pipes1 sites

3,500 tons quarry rock1 sites

concrete tribar and rubble1 sites

16 concrete sea caves1 sites

All reefs

Every California artificial reef by county

Reef	County	Depth (ft)	Material	Built	Area (acres)
Pinole Point Giant Marsh	Contra Costa		reef balls	2019
Chalk Cove	Los Angeles		constructed concrete blocks with tubes	1979	unknown
Hermosa Beach	Los Angeles	60	streetcar, car bodies, 330 tons quarry rock concrete shelters concrete pier pilings	1960	0.5
Malibu	Los Angeles	60	333 tons quarry rock, concrete blocks, pier pilings, and rubble	1961	0.5
Marina Del Rey 1	Los Angeles	65	2000 tons concrete rubble quarry rock and 4000 tons dock floats	1965/1978	3.2
Marina Del Rey 2	Los Angeles	65	10,000 tons quarry rock	1985	6.9
Palawan	Los Angeles	120	450 ft sunken liberty ship	1977	0.6
Palos Verdes Reef	Los Angeles		quarry rock	2020	32
Paradise Cove	Los Angeles	50	20 car bodies	1958	0.5
Redondo Beach	Los Angeles	72	concrete dock floats, quarry rock barge concrete pier pilings	1962/1978	1.6
Redondo/Palos Verde	Los Angeles	60	6 street cars	1958	0.1
Santa Monica	Los Angeles	60	100 tons concrete pier pilings, 330 tons quarry rock concrete shelters, can bodies streetcar	1961/1971	0.5
Santa Monica Bay	Los Angeles	57	streetcars, autobodies, 20,000 tons quarry rock and concrete shelters	1987	256
Topanga	Los Angeles	28	10,000 tons quarry rock	1987	13
Bolsa Chica	Orange	93	10,400 tons steel and concrete barges, edison lightpoles, pier pilings, quarry rock concrete rubble, concrete chimneys, fired bricks	1966	220
Huntington Beach A	Orange	60	1,000 tons quarry rock each	1963	3.7
Huntington Beach B	Orange	60	1,000 tons quarry rock each	1963	3.7
Huntington Beach C	Orange	60	1,000 tons quarry rock each	1963	3.7
Huntington Beach D	Orange	60	1,000 tons quarry rock each	1963	3.7
Newport Beach	Orange	72	10,675 tons concrete blocks, pilings,& rubble	1984	8
Wheeler North Reef	Orange		quarry rock	1999/2008/2020	370.7
Carlsbad	San Diego	49	10,000 tons quarry rock and concrete dock floats	1991	6
International Reef	San Diego		quarry rock concrete rubble 4 story missile platform	1992-1993	75
Mission Beach	San Diego		concrete roadway rubble	1992	173
NAS North Island Enhancement Reef	San Diego		quarry rock concrete rubble	1997	Unknown
Oceanside 1	San Diego	91	quarry rock concrete dock floats	1987	4
Oceanside 2	San Diego	57	quarry rock	1987	256
Pacific Beach	San Diego	57	10,000 tons quarry rock	1987	109
Pendelton	San Diego	43	quarry rock	1980	3.5
Port of San Diego Oyster Reef Living Shoreline	San Diego			2021
Torrey Pines 1	San Diego	67	1,000 tons quarry rock	1964	Unknown
Torrey Pines 2	San Diego		3,000 tons quarry rock	1975	1 acre
WreckAlley	San Diego		3 ships and radar tower	1987-2000	173
Atascadero	San Luis Obispo	55	3,500 tons quarry rock	1985	0.4
San Luis Obispo	San Luis Obispo	43	concrete tribar and rubble	1984	13
Goleta Bay Fish Reef Project	Santa Barbara	40	16 concrete sea caves	2023	0.1
Soquel Cove	Santa Cruz	45	480 Concrete culvert pipes	1981	0.6
Channel Islands Habor	Ventura	60	60,000 tires	1979
La Jenelle	Ventura	95	Vessel superstructure La Jenelle	1975
Pitas Point	Ventura	28	7,200 tons quarry rock	1984	1.1
Rincon Island	Ventura		120 car bodies augemented with 10,000 tires	1958
Ventura	Ventura	60	2000 ton quary rock	1965	8.8

CDFW artificial reef centroid layer, February 2026; one point per project.

By decade

When California reefs were built

1950s3 reefs

1960s12 reefs

1970s5 reefs

1980s13 reefs

1990s5 reefs

2010s1 reefs

2020s3 reefs

Answers

California artificial reef questions

How many artificial reefs are in California?

42 projects on the CDFW layer.

Where are most California reefs?

Southern California, from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

Can I fish artificial reefs?

Yes, under normal ocean limits, unless the reef sits inside a marine protected area.

What are California reefs made of?

quarry rock, 1,000 tons quarry rock each, 10,000 tons quarry rock and reef balls, mostly.

Are reef coordinates published?

CDFW publishes one centroid per project; the map above shows them.

Do bay and pier pages list nearby reefs?

Yes, within 15 to 20 miles.

Which reefs are outside state waters?

La Jenelle, Bolsa Chica and International Reef.

Where is the data from?

The CDFW artificial reef layer, built from NOAA, CDFW and SF Bay restoration data.