this weekend, australia’s EPA (environment protection agency) will sink an old warship off the coast of maroochydore-mooloolaba*
* i had to use this city somewhere in the text ;-)
the ship is planned to be sinking at -26.616666,153.168833 [G], and will then slowly be colonized and transformed into an artificial reef.
other than that (or: because of that), it’s expected to become a great diving site (it’s open for diving on monday already!) and attract divers from all over the world.
to protect the new biotope, they’re creating a conservation park in the area around it.
wow – maroochydore-mooloolaba seems to have a nice private harbor [G]!
more information: sink the brisbane
a pro-reef measure that seems even more …bizzare: in 2001, an artificial reef was installed at the gold coast, australia. they decided to use car tires, which turned out to be perfect living spaces for fish and reef critter.
the whole story: narrowneck – australia’s first fully man made surf reef
car tires have actually been used for artificial reef creation since about 1970. the obvious downside: fixation of the early ones is getting old and brittle, and separated car tires started washing up on the beaches…