To sink an artificial wreck- Yes, No, Maybe?

[Cacia]

okay, voted yes. 511 ft! That's bigger than anything we have over here.

 

[cdiver2]

I don't know about your location but in the G OF M the problem is not fishermen that go after the big stuff, or commercial fishing but your average Joe that only fishes on the weekend. Its not unusual to see 5-6 boats around a wreck all day long, the beer cans on the bottom is not helping as well. I voted no

 

[Wayward Son]

Maybe you have worse slobs in the Keys than we do in the panhandle. Every artificial is a dive site & a fishing site, & the fishing is mostly Joe 6 pack in a private boat. The commercial boats go other places. Every one of them teems with life & I've not found a single can, beer or otherwise, in 2 years diving here.

 

[justleesa]

I can say nothing but good things about what the wrecks have done for tourisum, the diving community and given sea creatures a place to hang out and find protection where there would other wise be nothing but sand...Good luck Big Island!! Oahu Ohana, when are we flying over to dive it???

 

[friscuba]

I don't know about your location but in the G OF M the problem is not fishermen that go after the big stuff, or commercial fishing but your average Joe that only fishes on the weekend. Its not unusual to see 5-6 boats around a wreck all day long, the beer cans on the bottom is not helping as well. I voted no

Fishing in Kona is far different than Florida or the Gulf by my guess. In most areas, if you are 400 yards from shore you are in at least 300-500 feet of water. Kona is not one of those places where you have to travel for miles to get to deep water. There is virutally nobody fishing on the reef and there are few reef fish that anyone eats, why bother when you can troll for marlin, tuna, wahoo and dorado 90 seconds outside the harbor mouth. The "weekend fishermen" are fishing for the big game fish here. The vast majority of wekend fishermen in Kona would have to travel miles out of their way to get to this wreck, and even then they'd have to settle for fish they probably wouldn't eat.

Another big difference here is that the only spearfishermen you will ever see are doing it breathhold. I've yet to see one scuba diver underwater with a gun here. I'm sure it happens, but it's not common.

 

[chairmanTARAC]

Florida state University estimates the oriskany will be a 92 million dollar impact on escambia county. The most important point is that a properly sited vessel creates habitat, There is a lot of support for cathrine's idea that these reefs should be for non consumption only but multi use seems to be the only way it can be sold in today's environment. When you recycle a vessel and create habitat and dive sites you create an underwater park that will be available for future generations. Look at the hassle the spiegal grove went thru. The vandenburg still isn't down. The oriskany in may,after a herculean effort on the part of the navy and the Texas Clipper maybe in September.