Former FLL Now MSP Diver
Contributor
Serious damage to reef by freighter
By David Fleshler
Staff Writer
April 3, 2004
A freighter that ran aground off Fort Lauderdale last week smashed coral and sheared off sponges over a wide area, in what environmental officials say was the area's worst grounding in many years.
Divers this week discovered a destruction zone 1,200 feet long and 200 feet wide along the second reef from shore. They also found the crushed remains of a loggerhead sea turtle, a federally protected species.
"Everything was pulverized to rubble," said Ken Banks, manager of marine resources programs for Broward County, who dove Wednesday on the reef. "There was basically total destruction of the reef framework and anything living on it. This is probably the most extensive reef damage we've seen in Broward County in the last 10 years."
The Eastwind, a Greek-owned ship carrying bauxite and oil, ran up on the reef March 26 while trying to enter Port Everglades. The ship damaged its propeller in the accident and remained at the port for repairs. The Coast Guard is investigating.
The owner will be required to pay for any repairs that are possible, such as cementing live coral back into place and stabilizing the rubble so it doesn't move and cause more damage. After that, the state will require the company to pay to improve the marine environment around the site.
Records at Port Everglades list the ship's owner as Eastwind Maritime. Jim Lawrence, spokesman for UK P&I Club, the owner's London-based insurance company, said they would cooperate with efforts to repair the reef and investigate the accident.
"The company is very pleased to be working through that process and is cooperating and wants to get it resolved to everyone's satisfaction," he said.
Lawrence said the company hasn't determined the cause of the accident. "The goal from our perspective is to figure it out and take steps so it doesn't happen again."
As the 544-foot ship scraped the reef, it destroyed ridges of ancient coral. While this coral was no longer alive, it formed the substrate on which carpets of live coral, sponges and other creatures lived. The ship flattened a lot of this coral, wrecking habitat for many marine organisms, said Banks, of Broward County. While marine creatures may recolonize the area, they won't find the same complexity of habitat that made the reef such a biologically rich environment, he said.
At first, fish may be attracted to the crushed reef because they would try to find food there, he said. But as time passes, the area will attract few fish because it won't offer food sources.
"The reef that was crushed is basically dead right now," Banks said.
Walt Jaap, associate research scientist at the Florida Marine Research Institute, said the ship appeared to move a lot once it hit the reef.
"The ship was basically like a plow," said Jaap, who dove the reef this week. "There is quite a lot of injury to the site."
In the past, companies that harmed reefs were required to mitigate the damage by creating artificial reefs of limestone or other hard materials to provide habitat for coral, sponges and other reef species. But recently, the state and county have told companies to remove tires from a vast undersea tire field off Fort Lauderdale, where tires were dumped in a failed effort to create an artificial reef. Jaap said tire removal was an option in this case.
The reefs near Port Everglades have suffered repeated groundings. Last summer, the Alam Sanang, a cement freighter flying a Malaysian flag, ran aground in about the same area as the Eastwind.
"We've had quite a lot of groundings in Fort Lauderdale, probably because of the amount of shipping in the area," Banks said. "This one area of reef has been impacted by five or six groundings in the past few years. We've got to figure out some way to avoid this."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/ya...98469,print.story?coll=sfla-newsaol-headlines
Marc
By David Fleshler
Staff Writer
April 3, 2004
A freighter that ran aground off Fort Lauderdale last week smashed coral and sheared off sponges over a wide area, in what environmental officials say was the area's worst grounding in many years.
Divers this week discovered a destruction zone 1,200 feet long and 200 feet wide along the second reef from shore. They also found the crushed remains of a loggerhead sea turtle, a federally protected species.
"Everything was pulverized to rubble," said Ken Banks, manager of marine resources programs for Broward County, who dove Wednesday on the reef. "There was basically total destruction of the reef framework and anything living on it. This is probably the most extensive reef damage we've seen in Broward County in the last 10 years."
The Eastwind, a Greek-owned ship carrying bauxite and oil, ran up on the reef March 26 while trying to enter Port Everglades. The ship damaged its propeller in the accident and remained at the port for repairs. The Coast Guard is investigating.
The owner will be required to pay for any repairs that are possible, such as cementing live coral back into place and stabilizing the rubble so it doesn't move and cause more damage. After that, the state will require the company to pay to improve the marine environment around the site.
Records at Port Everglades list the ship's owner as Eastwind Maritime. Jim Lawrence, spokesman for UK P&I Club, the owner's London-based insurance company, said they would cooperate with efforts to repair the reef and investigate the accident.
"The company is very pleased to be working through that process and is cooperating and wants to get it resolved to everyone's satisfaction," he said.
Lawrence said the company hasn't determined the cause of the accident. "The goal from our perspective is to figure it out and take steps so it doesn't happen again."
As the 544-foot ship scraped the reef, it destroyed ridges of ancient coral. While this coral was no longer alive, it formed the substrate on which carpets of live coral, sponges and other creatures lived. The ship flattened a lot of this coral, wrecking habitat for many marine organisms, said Banks, of Broward County. While marine creatures may recolonize the area, they won't find the same complexity of habitat that made the reef such a biologically rich environment, he said.
At first, fish may be attracted to the crushed reef because they would try to find food there, he said. But as time passes, the area will attract few fish because it won't offer food sources.
"The reef that was crushed is basically dead right now," Banks said.
Walt Jaap, associate research scientist at the Florida Marine Research Institute, said the ship appeared to move a lot once it hit the reef.
"The ship was basically like a plow," said Jaap, who dove the reef this week. "There is quite a lot of injury to the site."
In the past, companies that harmed reefs were required to mitigate the damage by creating artificial reefs of limestone or other hard materials to provide habitat for coral, sponges and other reef species. But recently, the state and county have told companies to remove tires from a vast undersea tire field off Fort Lauderdale, where tires were dumped in a failed effort to create an artificial reef. Jaap said tire removal was an option in this case.
The reefs near Port Everglades have suffered repeated groundings. Last summer, the Alam Sanang, a cement freighter flying a Malaysian flag, ran aground in about the same area as the Eastwind.
"We've had quite a lot of groundings in Fort Lauderdale, probably because of the amount of shipping in the area," Banks said. "This one area of reef has been impacted by five or six groundings in the past few years. We've got to figure out some way to avoid this."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/ya...98469,print.story?coll=sfla-newsaol-headlines
Marc
