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Guy Harvey

On July 27 a small old 251-foot warship, the USS Kittiwake, is set to be sunk in 60 feet of water just off West Bay. Some people might ask the question why we need an artificial reef in the Cayman Islands when there are many healthy coral reefs fringing our shores. By definition an artificial reef is a manmade structure that is purposely placed on the sea floor. In coral reef environments as we have here, these structures are not placed on existing reefs but on sand flats adjacent to natural reefs where they act to supplement or enhance threatened coral reefs.
 
Historically, artificial reefs were used by Persians, Greeks, Romans and many Asian countries to improve fish and shellfish stocks and growth of algae and kelp. Over many centuries shipwrecks throughout the world have inadvertently created artificial reefs. More recently with the advent of offshore drilling for oil and gas, large structures have been erected on the sea floor for one purpose but then become suitable habitat for a multitude of marine organisms.
 
In the last 50 years coral reefs have been exposed to a variety of detrimental influences mostly caused by man: pollution, increased sedimentation and reduced light levels due to poor agricultural practices, over fishing, coastal development, and then add to that combination some storm damage. Natural coral reefs worldwide are under huge pressure.
 
There is a narrow insular shelf of shallow water around all three of the Cayman Islands, therefore not much flat sand space exists in the preferred depth to place a large artificial reef that could project tens of feet off the bottom. Too close to shore and the object may not be totally submerged and be a navigational hazard, too far out and it may slide down the drop off into the abyss.
 
The last ship sunk here as an artificial was a Russian destroyer, renamed the Captain Keith Tibbetts and sunk off Cayman Brac in 1996. Since then this famous wreck has attracted tens of thousands of divers to visit the site and the Cayman Islands.
 
Artificial reefs provide new homes for a wide variety of marine life. Generally they are placed on stable, flat, barren substrates. Materials used include old ships, rocks, old cars, planes, railway carriages, building rubble, piping, and so forth. In some locations specifically designed pre-fabricated concrete reef balls are used to attract specific types of marine life. In placing a hard surface in an area where animals would not otherwise be able to settle such as on mud, clay or sand, the settlement of sessile organisms is now possible. Once algae, coral, sponges and gorgonians are established, fish feed on them and seek shelter in these locations. A complex marine habitat is generated in a few years in an area that was previously barren and unproductive.
 
The larger and more stable the reef, the longer it will last. Unfortunately metal ships slowly disintegrate and if placed in shallow water can be moved by big storms. Large permanent concrete structures are ideal, which is why so much marine growth appears on piers, docks, railway bridges and oil rigs that are well maintained. There is a strong argument to conserve the base of decommissioned oil rigs as they have provided so much new marine habitat. The Rigs to Reef project in California promotes cutting the obsolete rigs off and leaving the legs with all their growth as essential fish habitat.
 
In 1997 I gained my first experience in the sinking of an artificial reef. In addition to funds raised by the Pompano Beach Fishing Rodeo, I sponsored the sinking of the Lady Kimberley, a 180-foot coastal freighter purchased in Haiti and brought back to Ft. Lauderdale. You don’t just buy an old ship and then have it sunk, there are lots of permits to be obtained from a host of different agencies and authorisation for the location of the deployment. Fortunately my ship was part of the Broward County Artificial Reef Programme and had been allocated its location long before it was acquired. Then the ship had to be cleaned of all fuel, oil, lubricants and other pollutants, and as it was being sunk at a diveable depth the ship had to be made diver safe. That is all the hatches had to cut off or welded open and extra holes cut in the deck plating for easy entry and exit. The whole point of having experts lay the charges is to have the ship fill with water in a controlled manner so the ship lands upright on the substrate.
 
The scuttling process involves all sorts of people from bomb disposal experts to Police, Coast Guard and Port Authority to name but a few and is not an easy task to achieve. In addition with help from my kids, Jessica and Alexander, I painted a whole bunch of over-sized fish in silhouette along the hull of the ship, making this the largest underwater mural ever painted. Broward County were particularly helpful in getting ships permitted as they realise (as do many US states and Caribbean Islands) the huge economic impact a new wreck can have on the local economy. Each ship may bring hundreds of thousands of dollars to coastal communities each year from people who want to dive and fish on these artificial reefs.
 
The Guy Harvey Reef was sunk off Pompano Beach at 1pm on Saturday 10 May, 1997. About 400 vessels surrounded the site and six TV news helicopters and an airship covered the sinking from above. The bomb disposal guys put a couple of 5-gallon cans of gas on the deck to explode when the hull charges went off. In Hollywood-style fashion the red mushroom cloud that went up was spectacular and one could hardly hear the soft crump as the hull charges went off and she started to settle. Immediately after she went down a couple of boatloads of divers went down after it to see the ship on the bottom in 140 feet of water. Crazy guys! They said the white fish images looked awesome at that depth.
 
So do we need another shipwreck artificial reef site in the Cayman Islands?
 
ABSOLUTELY!
 
Apart from attracting a hard core group of divers who specialise in wreck diving around the world, the new site will be available to all levels of diver for 330 days per year given its location and will add another major underwater attraction to Grand Cayman’s already impressive list of dive sites. The new site offers new opportunities for marine research, education and photography and the socio-economic impact of the new site will very positive. For more information on this new wreck please visit kittiwakecayman.com    WH

It is our collective responsibility to conserve the marine environment and to maintain the biodiversity of the planet.
Safe diving.
Guy Harvey PhD       www.guyharvey.com