According to a department document, American Marine dropped 125 Z-shaped concrete slabs onto Keawakapu Reef on Dec. 2. The damage covered 312 square meters of living reef well outside the area marked for the slabs.
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According to a department document, American Marine dropped 125 Z-shaped concrete slabs onto Keawakapu Reef on Dec. 2. The damage covered 312 square meters of living reef well outside the area marked for the slabs.
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"...reef construction may have potentially deleterious effects on reef fish populations including (1) increased fishing effort and catch rates (2) boosting the potential for overexploitation of stocks by increasing access to previously unexploited stock segments and, (3) increasing the probability of overexploitation by concentrating previously exploited segments of the stock..."read more
``We are alarmed that the vessel will be allowed to be sunk only 1400m offshore with that amount of lead paint in a bed of sand that feeds our beach with sand.’’No Ship Action group argues that ship with 20,000sqm of lead paint should not be sunk as an artificial reef.
Jeff Lee implies that the opposition is a small group and that this is a not-in-my-backyard issue. Wrong. The largest property owner in the area, the United Church, has run a children's summer camp on the west side of Halkett Bay for generations and is opposed, as are the Georgia Strait Alliance, the Islands Trust and more than 600 residents and users of Howe Sound
“By and large, I think we can safely say that intentionally sunken ships don’t really provide much in the way of habitat value,” said Sarah Christie at the California Coastal Commission. “The fundamental question for decision-makers is whether we want to view our ocean floor as a depository for scrap metal … or preserve it in its natural condition.”Read more: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jul/13/diving-lessons-sinking-yukon/
A point of contention among scientists, though, is whether reefs are beneficial for the environment. Some studies say reefs can provide spots for fish nurseries and lead to increased populations, while other studies show artificial reefs merely draw fish from a large region to a focal point for fisherman to pluck them out of the water -- like fish in a barrel, only underwater -- exacerbating overfishing.read more here:
Felicia Coleman, a fisheries ecologist at Florida State University, says that it is arrogant to assume that we know enough to artificially recreate a complicated ecosystem.Read more:
She notes that in places like Alabama - a state with a 38-mile coastline - so many artificial structures have been sunk that the marine community has completely changed. While some claim to be trading an unproductive community for a more productive one, Dr. Coleman asks, "Productive to whom?"
Rejecting dive industry green-wash that scuttling a warship in Halkett Bay Provincial Park is a "marine ecological enhancement initiative", federal officials said the 113-metre-long vessel would "cover and destroy" 1,470 square metres of special seabed.The article goes on to note that artificial reef creation is growing worldwide.
At a recent dive industry trade show run by DEMA, a California-based scuba marketing group funded by member contributions from retail dive stores, dive boat operators and resorts, "wrecks to reefs" promoters boasted that scuttling ships as scuba diving attractions is an economic initiative that represents the most effective way to increase dive tourism and grow the dive industry.http://www.cdnn.info/news/industry/i100422.html
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“The project would result in significant harmful alteration, disruption, and destruction of fish habitat – without suitable justification or appropriate compensation. The project has the potential to adversely affect species of concern, including rockfish species and SARA-listed humpback whale and Stellar sea lion.”Read more:
''Most of the problems of fish stocks can be traced to inappropriate land use management, of estuaries, wetlands,'' he said. ''Why isn't the government spending money on areas that increase numbers of fish?''Read more:
such ocean dumping ravages the marine ecosystem, hammers U.S. taxpayers with unnecessary expense, costs U.S. jobs, and violates international law against ocean dumping.Read the entire press release here:
One might wonder why it would be difficult to dispose of ships which each on average may containabout $3,000,000.00 worth of steel that can be recycled. The answer is that these vessels are floating caskets, full of toxic materials such as asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) integral to itsconstruction materials that if dealt with responsibly on land, via pre-cleaning or decontamination, wouldcost the government far more than the steel is worth.Read the entire paper in PDF form here:
There is no scientific agreement that artificial reef construction is beneficial to the marine environment, and indeed, there is much scientific opinion that it can actually be harmful - particularly when reefs are made from "materials of convenience" (eg. old warships) rather than being designed for the specific location and for enhancement of specific species considering factors such as the number of chambers, chamber size, optimum reef size, design, substrate, depth vs. distance offshore, spatial arrangement or configuration and materials, etc. Artificial reefs made of old ships and other cast-off materials are unnecessary and may even harm the environment by replacing existing natural habitats with less effective artificial ones. At the very least, we are altering marine habitat by sinking ships.Another interesting point
The steel hull and aluminum superstructure of these ships corrode quickly underwater, making the ship a potential hazard. A diver who explored the Chaudiere 16 months after its sinking confirmed that pieces of the ship broke away in his hands and jagged edges were exposedRead the entire letter here:
One question that was largely overlooked in the entire controversy was whether artificial reefs should be created at all. Many fishing groups supported the reef-building efforts, arguing that more reefs and therefore more habitat would lead to more reef fish, but that may not be the case. "It's obviously beneficial to the person who has a boat that makes money renting space on the boat to catch fish. And it's of benefit to the person that has a private boat and wants to catch fish," Bennett says. "The question is whether it's good for the fish, and I don't think we know the answer."
When we build a reef, we’re altering the availabilityRead the entire article (in PDF form)
of the structure fish need in proximity to their foraging
grounds. So yes, they’re drawn to it, and there are rea-
sonable studies to suggest that in general, artificial reefs
hold initially higher densities of fish than natural reefs.
However, there is not necessarily the same biodiversity
or the same community composition because the reef
structures, by design, are different.
Artificial reefs can also be detrimental to the existing habitat. “To some people, it appears that a sandy ocean bottom is a wasteland with no value, so a reef would create a wonderful habitat,” Powell says. What people aren’t taking into account is that the sandy bottom is a natural habitat supporting ocean life. “Many artificial reefs are being put in place with little thought of how they affect the habitat that was originally there.”Read more
The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which sunk 100 obsolete combat tanks in 1994, estimates that most artificial reefs will last no longer than 50 years, meaning they could threaten fragile marine life as they break upRead the entire article here:
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the feds are potentially approving the dumping of naval junk onto the provincial property without any apparent input or concern by the provincial minister of environment,"
"You have to be very cautious because you never know what you might discover in five or 10 years time that you hadn't taken into account. Once you [sink] a ship, it's never coming back up again,"Read the entire article here:
as artificial-reef initiatives grow to include more coastal regions and a wider array of aged infrastructure, some scientists worry that the commercial interests of fishing, diving and trash disposal are driving efforts that should be environmental.Read the whole article here:
Recreational divers groups have promoted the sinking of derelict ships as artificial reefs at sites throughout Georgia Strait. On the surface, an artificial reef sounds like a good idea. So what's the problem?Read their entire statement:
Scientists have been studying artificial reefs since the 1970's. While they agree that these reefs have an effect, they do not agree that the effect is beneficial.
A preliminary report released by two federal agencies confirmed that when the state accidentally dropped 125, 1.3-ton concrete slabs onto a swath of coral reef off South Maui last year, it damaged a living habitat for myriad fish and other aquatic life-forms.
"The concept for constructing artificial reefs as a means of enhancing recreational fisheries is now considered questionable by fisheries managers if we are to maintain fish stocks at sustainable levels."Read the entire article here: