Sinking A Ship and Its Effects

Scuba_Noob · Sep 7, 2011

Hi, I'm a newbie diver and NOWHERE close to technical or wreck diving (not for a couple hundred more dives), but I had some questions about wrecks in general, and this seems like the perfect forum for that.

I assume when people/officials sink a wreck, they just let it float down to the bottom. The problem is that wrecks are huge and heavy. Add that to sinking at a pretty fast rate, don't the wrecks damage the flora and fauna of the environment a lot?

Yes, I know that eventually the wrecks become part of the environment and contribute to the ecosystem by providing a place for animals/plants to grow or hide...but I'm curious about the initial damages.

Do they normally try to pick areas without a lot of animals and plants to drop wrecks?

Are there any cases of wrecks sinking and destroying a lot (e.g., plants/wildlife or breaking off an underwater "cliff" and chunks of rock")?

lowviz · Sep 7, 2011

"Reefed" (intentionally sunk) ships and objects:

“Artificial reef construction is especially important in the Mid-Atlantic region, where near shore bottom is usually featureless sand or mud.” Quoted from link immediately below:
Artificial Reef Program
To be fair about it, “featureless sand” contains quite a bit of sea life (aka scallops and clams) that the draggers use to eke out a living.

There are conflicts with reef usage:
Feds Kill Funding to NJ Reef Program!!

There were big mistakes: (in answer to your question of "destroying a lot".)
Osborne Reef Waste Tire Removal Project Page | Solid & Hazardous Waste | Waste Mgmt | Florida DEP

And successes:
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/reefs/reef_guide.pdf

Extra credit: Search on L. Ron Hubbard and the USS Algol. The Algol is a really nice dive with some great "swim throughs" in an area known as the “parking lot”. (The name is due to its popularity with dive boats.)
Scuba Diving - New Jersey & Long Island New York - dive Wreck Valley - Artificial Reefs - USS Algol
Extra, extra credit: search above link for “cunner”.

Scuba_Noob · Sep 8, 2011

Thanks for your quick and thorough response.

From your links - "Durable, stable, non-toxic reef materials can develop an invertebrate community which is hundreds of times richer than adjacent bottom."

I find that to be amazing that sinking a wreck can positively affect marine wildlife so much. I guess if there's no reef there, making an artificial reef system is the best alternative.

I guess if the wreck societies drop a cleaned wreck where there is little wildlife (mostly sand/mud), the wreck will do minimal damage with the great gain of a reef system.

Haven't finished reading the 70-page PDF yet, but it's a good read so far.

lowviz · Sep 8, 2011

Scuba_Noob:
...//.....I find that to be amazing that sinking a wreck can positively affect marine wildlife so much. ....//......

Just next door to the Algol is one of our most popular wrecks, - a real wreck, it was cut in half by another ship. http://njscuba.net/zzz_media/sites_stolt_dagali_2008.wmv You get a brief look at the sea floor near the end of the video. compare that with the life on the weck itself.

Scuba_Noob · Sep 8, 2011

Checked out the video. Thinking about doing wreck diving eventually, as that seems like a really cool specialty.

I notice that in the video, there's this ass with a speargun with horrible buoyancy control (he's near the start and near the end too). In the beginning, he was basically resting his fins on the wreck while playing with the speargun, and at the end, when he's moving, he's basically stirring up silt and kicking sea stars everywhere. Not a very nice guy.

lowviz · Sep 8, 2011

Scuba_Noob:
....//....I notice that in the video, there's this ass with a speargun with horrible buoyancy control (he's near the start and near the end too). In the beginning, he was basically resting his fins on the wreck while playing with the speargun, and at the end, when he's moving, he's basically stirring up silt and kicking sea stars everywhere. Not a very nice guy.

To generalize, I most commonly see hunters, wreckers, diggers, photographers, and just divers. The hunter you mention obviously has his own agenda, probably chasing something big.

I like to drift along the bottom looking for bits of history that the sea uncovers. Thus, I would be a digger.

You may have also noticed a very loose buddy system.

That video is fairly representative of NE Atlantic wreck diving. It isn't for everyone.

sunkmail · Sep 8, 2011

For lots of info, and much closer to home for you, Check out the ARSBC website.

Currently in the process of preparing to sink a ship just outside Vancouver. I've personally been on 2 survey dive trips to the site - The bottom was virtually destroyed by logging practices over many decades. That is one reason for the selection of the site - To try to bring back some of the area's former diversity and bio mass, without disrupting existing flora or fauna.

Check out the site survey videos on the Annapolis page and you will see what I mean - I think we found 2 crabs (One dead) and 5 or 6 anemones.

Scuba_Noob · Sep 8, 2011

Thanks, sunkmail. Once I get my AOW, I'll do some wreck dives and hopefully check these ones out (from the outside only, of course

).

Tom Smedley · Sep 9, 2011

We went diving on the site where the Oriskany was to be placed several months before she was placed. The ocean terrain was sandy bottom with some banthic life but not prolyfic. As we decompressed in the plankton layer we used magnifying glasses to identify some of the larval species floating by. We saw among other thing lots of small octopus. We were on-hand for the sinking and one month later did our first dive on the fresh wreck. Already there were full grown blennies, full grown octopus, schools of baitfish, and large pelagics just hanging out. The deck was covered with the beginnings of oysters and barnicles. Plankton with its myriad of larvae float in the ocean current until it finds a place to attach, then it grows. The Oriskany is just one example that for the small area of sand that was covered the massive hull has sprang forth with an amazing variety of marine life in just a short time.

Sinking A Ship and Its Effects

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