a thread ALL locals should read.
- Thread starter Diesel298
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MASS-Diver
Contributor
SINK THE SALEM - the huge battle ship sits at the foreriver bridge in Quincy . It's one of the only battle ships not to fire a shot in anger in WWII. It would be a world class artifical reef.
actually its a battle cruser, and there where very few of them ever commisioned, and last i saw they where doing a excellent job at her restoration. but that was many years back.
but stuff like that would be absolutley awesome.
and leave some cool artifacts too.....
but stuff like that would be absolutley awesome.
and leave some cool artifacts too.....
Soggy
Contributor
Ultimately, the reason is that it costs HUGE $$$ to prepare a ship to become an artificial reef and it only costs a little bit to drop reef balls.
ScubaSarus
Guest
Well since Diesel made a few spelling errors I believe the government has abandoned theartificial reef system alltogether and plan to raise the Speigle Grove. Incredible what a spelling error can cause. 
Now to the serious side. I agree that we should do more in N. England. I'm wondering if there is any info for us to dig thru or if the community can write to an organization to see if we can't get more atificial reefs. Thats a good topic for this board. Glad you brought this up.
Now to the serious side. I agree that we should do more in N. England. I'm wondering if there is any info for us to dig thru or if the community can write to an organization to see if we can't get more atificial reefs. Thats a good topic for this board. Glad you brought this up.
Mark_N
Contributor
I have to ask why you would want an artificial reef for the New England area?
My understanding is they are put into place where significant destruction occures during storms and the use of an artificial reef reduces the wave effect before it reaches land.
While it is cool to have something to dive it doesn't make since to place an object unnecessarily. I am unsure of what additional benefits there may be for having the objects in place other than an ecco system and I would imagine the depth, temp, etc... would have to be right which we may not have off the coast.
My understanding is they are put into place where significant destruction occures during storms and the use of an artificial reef reduces the wave effect before it reaches land.
While it is cool to have something to dive it doesn't make since to place an object unnecessarily. I am unsure of what additional benefits there may be for having the objects in place other than an ecco system and I would imagine the depth, temp, etc... would have to be right which we may not have off the coast.
I am sure a lot of you already know this, but the Idene, south of Block Island was sunk intentionally as a reef.
http://www.wreckhunter.net/DataPages/idene-dat.htm
http://www.wreckhunter.net/DataPages/idene-dat.htm
MSilvia
Contributor
There are so many "real" shipwrecks up here, I'm not sure I see the point of sinking anything just to give divers something to visit. Take your pick!
Soggy
Contributor
MSilvia:
Amen to that....There are a lot more wrecks up here than the Poling...you just need to dive with better/different operators.
JimJam
Contributor
I'm sure everyone can appreciate a good "real" shipwreck. However, the rate of shipwrecks has dropped significantly in the last 50-70 years and those that we dive on now are rapidly deteriorating seemingly more season to season.
I have a nasty habit of hexing tankers and freighters every time I see one go buy...hoping for that next great wreck!
I've done some research into this subject in the past. In many ways, it is easier than everyone thinks, and in other ways it is harder than everyone thinks.
The US Navy has over 400 surplus ships that are currently "mothballed". 400!!! Congress has issued an order to dispose of these ships, however that is not always too easy. Some ships will be sold for scrap, other's will be de-militarized and sold to commercial shippers domestically and internationally. But the vast majority of these ships the government does not know what to do with.
Our "well spent" tax dollars are going towards maintaining these ships, paying guards to watch them, paying for all the expenses of having a massive ship in port....the beauty of this whole situation is that it actually costs the government less money to find a group looking for an artificial reef project, GIVE them the ship AND most of the expenses to clean it, and possibly transport it.
DEMA actually has an organization called Ships to Reefs which (as the name suggests) acts more or less as a guide to organizing these types of projects. Dick Long is very involved with Ships to Reefs and he published a great transcript of a speech he gave a couple of years ago at a DEMA show. It is a 7 page outline on how projects like this work. The website is http://ships2reefs.com. It is definitely worth a look.
Now, the hard part is dealing with the EPA. Within the last few years, they've actually written standards on the cleaning, transporting, sinking, etc. of artificial reefs such as the ones we are talking about. It can be a real PI the A to have to deal with. That's the tough part.
If anyone/everyone is REALLY serious about this, go to the Ships to Reef website and take a look through Dick Long's speach. If you STILL are really serious about this, I would suggest we put together a roster of people who are interested in taking an active role in making it happen and...we make it happen. Sign me up!
PS. If there are any typographical or grammatical errors in this message TOO ********** BAD!!!
I have a nasty habit of hexing tankers and freighters every time I see one go buy...hoping for that next great wreck!
I've done some research into this subject in the past. In many ways, it is easier than everyone thinks, and in other ways it is harder than everyone thinks.
The US Navy has over 400 surplus ships that are currently "mothballed". 400!!! Congress has issued an order to dispose of these ships, however that is not always too easy. Some ships will be sold for scrap, other's will be de-militarized and sold to commercial shippers domestically and internationally. But the vast majority of these ships the government does not know what to do with.
Our "well spent" tax dollars are going towards maintaining these ships, paying guards to watch them, paying for all the expenses of having a massive ship in port....the beauty of this whole situation is that it actually costs the government less money to find a group looking for an artificial reef project, GIVE them the ship AND most of the expenses to clean it, and possibly transport it.
DEMA actually has an organization called Ships to Reefs which (as the name suggests) acts more or less as a guide to organizing these types of projects. Dick Long is very involved with Ships to Reefs and he published a great transcript of a speech he gave a couple of years ago at a DEMA show. It is a 7 page outline on how projects like this work. The website is http://ships2reefs.com. It is definitely worth a look.
Now, the hard part is dealing with the EPA. Within the last few years, they've actually written standards on the cleaning, transporting, sinking, etc. of artificial reefs such as the ones we are talking about. It can be a real PI the A to have to deal with. That's the tough part.
If anyone/everyone is REALLY serious about this, go to the Ships to Reef website and take a look through Dick Long's speach. If you STILL are really serious about this, I would suggest we put together a roster of people who are interested in taking an active role in making it happen and...we make it happen. Sign me up!
PS. If there are any typographical or grammatical errors in this message TOO ********** BAD!!!
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