News
Federal permit issued to create artificial reef in Canadian waters
Environment Canada has issued a permit allowing a group to sink the former warship HMCS Annapolis to create a diving destination and artificial reef on the West Coast of British Columbia. However, not everyone is happy about the project’s go ahead.
Opponents, who for several years have been trying to stop the scuttling, say the ship poses a pollution hazard, and Halkett Bay Marine Provincial Park is the wrong place to scuttle it.
But Howard Robbins, president of the Artificial Reef Society of B.C., said the Environment Canada permit shows the ship is clean and won’t pollute the bay on Gambier Island, just a short boat ride from Vancouver. He’s confident a provincial permit will be issued soon, which would complete all the paperwork needed to blow holes in the vessel and sink it. That has been the group’s dream since it got the retired destroyer escort from Canadian Forces in 2008.
“We now have all of our federal authorizations in place. Next will be our park use permit, which will be issued shortly, and at that point we are fully compliant with both governments and we will plan our sink accordingly,” Mr. Robbins said earlier this month.
He said after years of battling opponents and meeting government requirements, he believes all the major hurdles have been cleared, although a marine contractor who worked on cleaning the ship has an outstanding financial claim that needs to be dealt with.
“We’re in talks right now to get the financial matter resolved,” Mr. Robbins said. “Once that’s done we should be good to go. We’re inching our way closer to the sink date right now.”
He said the ship should go down later this year. However, he’s made similar predictions several times in the past, only to have the date delayed while regulatory conditions were met.
The project has long been under attack by environmental groups and local residents who object to Halkett Bay becoming a graveyard for the 50-year-old Annapolis. The Artificial Reef Society had to undertake a massive cleanup effort on the ship, with 1,000 volunteers putting in more than 17,000 hours of work, in addition to the efforts by professional contractors.
“It’s been a very complicated project on many levels but we’ve been able to navigate all of it successfully to the point where we are now,” he said.
Mr. Robbins claims the ship, once sunk, will create an artificial reef on a section of ocean floor that is largely featureless.
“The Annapolis provides something that is not available in Halkett Bay right now and that’s a complex marine habitat,” he said.
But Gary MacDonald, a spokesman for the Save Halkett Bay Marine Park Society, said his group will ask Environment Canada for a hearing to contest the permit because the ship is a pollution threat.
In July, Environment Canada received a consultant’s report that declared the vessel was free of interior insulation and other contaminants, but Mr. MacDonald rejects that report, saying it was written by a lawyer, not an environmental scientist. “We want to see an independent test report that shows the ship is actually clean,” he said.
Mr. MacDonald is also pressing ahead with a petition to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. In that action, filed last week, the group seeks an order requiring the provincial government to stop the sinking, arguing it would violate the Park Act to put a wreck down in a marine park.
Christianne Wilhelmson, of the Georgia Strait Alliance, said there are deep concerns about artificial reefs in general.
“Continuing to sink these ships when we have so many outstanding questions is reckless,” she said.
Although divers maintain sunken ships soon become flourishing reefs with fish species moving into the nooks and crannies, there has been no long-term environmental assessment.
“Nobody is monitoring the other artificial reefs that were created from ships to our knowledge,” she said. “So to me this says we are continuing to dump things into the ocean without looking at the long-term impacts on the environment.”
Source: www.theglobeandmail.com
News
Dive Worldwide Announces Bite-Back as its Charity of the Year
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
Gear News
Scubapro Free Octopus Promotion 2024
Free Octopus with every purchase of a SCUBAPRO regulator system
Just in time for the spring season, divers can save money with the FREE OCTOPUS SPRING PROMOTION! Until July 31st SCUBAPRO offers an Octopus for free
with every purchase of a regulator system!
Get a free S270 OCTOPUS with purchase of these combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with A700
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with S620Ti
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with D420
MK25 EVO Din mit S620Ti-X
Get a free R105 OCTOPUS with purchase of the following combinations:
MK25 EVO or MK19 EVO with G260
MK25 EVO or MK17 EVO with S600
SCUBAPRO offers a 30-year first owner warranty on all regulators, with a revision period of two years or 100 dives. All SCUBAPRO regulators are of course certified according to the new European test standard EN250-2014.
Available at participating SCUBAPRO dealers. Promotion may not be available in all regions. Find an authorized SCUBAPRO Dealer at scubapro.com.
More information available on www.scubapro.com.
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