BILOXI — The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources has finished a project that extends the eastern end of Deer Island by about three acres.

The agency says in a news release Monday that 1,500 cubic yards of limestone were added in May to the nearshore reef for Deer Island North.

Just south of Biloxi, Deer Island is the closest island to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Kerwin Cuevas, the agency’s artificial reef bureau director, says enhancing the reef provides additional fish habitat. He also says in a few years, it could be used as an oyster tonging reef for commercial harvest.