Pacific Northwest Aquatic Association

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Overview

• Past
• What was the situation?
• What has changed?
• What is S2R
• What is S2R
• What is CS2R
• Sunken Treasures Society of LA
• Organizational Structure of the CS2R Community
• NCOF, OCOF, SFOF

• Present
• 11Mar05/11May05 Orientations
• What has happened since?

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Past What was the situation?

• Ships are being built (rotated in/out of naval
  inventory)
• WWII was the first time the US had significant
  inventory
• MARAD/Navy has been stockpiling ships for
  possible future use.
• Between increasing environmental sensitivity,
  ship inventory, and complex laws ship disposal
  has been pushed to critical importance.

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What has changed?

• The RAND Report (2001).
• Congressional mandate MARAD/Navy reduce the
  inventory of its inactive fleet.
• Rules regarding exporting of surplus ships to
  third world countries
• Costs associated with ship disposal

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Situation
MARAD/US Navy has 400 obsolete ships.
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What is Ships-To-Reefs?

• S2R organizations are loosely associated groups
  that share information, a common purpose, and
  whose goal is to promote the use of surplus ships
  as cultured reefs.

• www.sunkentreasures.org
• www.ships2reefs.com

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What is California Ships-To- Reefs (CS2R?)

• CS2R is the California group spearheading the
  approach to a national and California standard
  for streamlined regulations pertaining to the
  release of inactive ships for reefing.
• Charter Create Cultured Reefs using
  environmentally cleaned surplus ships along the
  California Coast, stimulating revitalization of
  fish populations and economic benefits.
• Committee of the San Diego Oceans Foundation
  (SDOF)

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What is California Ships-To- Reefs (CS2R?)

• 21 year old 501c3
• WSB White Sea Bass Replenishment
• Canyon Watch
• Ocean in Motion
• Home to Ocean
• ARMP Artificial Reef Monitoring Program
• Sea World Scholarship

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Organizational Structure

• CS2R, WS2R, HS2R
• LAM, LAC, OCS, SDN, SDO, SDC
• Individuals involved in SinkGroups

• Confederation of state groups working at Federal
  level
• CA org working at state level and support local
  SinkGroups (SG)
• Local groups working in regional area to develop
  grass roots support

S2R

CS2R

SG
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Review

• Background
• What is S2R?
• What is STLA?
• Why do anything?

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Reasons for Action

• Ecological
• Decreasing fish populations due to over-fishing
• Suspect/Intuitive Habitat Fish Procreation
• Economic
• Long term effect of fish depopulation on hook and
  reel fishing
• Effect of diver prepared wrecks on local
  economiese.g. Yukon 4.5 million annually.
• Availability
• Government ship disposal solution
• Fish population enhancement
• Local community economic enhancement
• Win-Win-Win

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Yukon Ecological Study

• SDOF/CS2R sponsored Assessment 2002-2004
• Ecological Monitoring
• Monitor the Yukon fish and fouling community
  development on the reef
• Purely a volunteer effort, SDOF provided divers
  to collect data (fish counts)
• Fish transects lines and photo quadrants
• The study did not
• Study the impacts of the Yukon on the regional
  production of fish insufficient resources
• Parnell, UCSD, Scripps School of Oceanography
  (2005)

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Ecological Treasures from Reefing

• Habitat Fish Procreation
• Ocean Desert
• Ocean Forest
• Predator Protection

• Spring 2001 to Fall 2003 Procreation
• 100 to 300 (mean, total fish per fish count)
• 3.5 to 8 (mean, species richness)

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Fishery Enhancement

• Vessel provides nursery structure within areas
  with little or no existing structure.
• Creates no-take nursery for fish replenishment.

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Broad Industry Benefits

• Sport fishermen
• Divers
• Fishing dive shop owners
• Fishing diving charter boat operators
• Hotels
• Restaurants
• Airlines
• Car rental
• Shipyard Operations
• Vessel Towing
• Other local attractions

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Dive Tourism

• California is already ranked high as a diver
  destination.
• A State system of diver-friendly shipwrecks
  allows us to compete domestically with areas such
  as Florida and the East Coast, as well as
  internationally, with regions such as British
  Columbia, the Caribbean, Europe, etc. All of
  these have extensive ships-to-reef programs.

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Dive Tourism

• Divers LOVE wrecks.
• Opportunities in the world to safely explore
  sunken wrecks limited to regions that promote
  reefing programs.

• Vessels prepared explicitly for fish procreation
  and diving.
• Sunk in waters within recreational dive limit
  standards.
• Generate tourism-related revenues.
• Generate user fees.

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Cultured ReefsSunken Treasures for the Economy

• British Columbia 2004. 15M in annual direct
  dive-related business activity (i.e. does not
  include meals/accommodations).
• Nanaimo, BC 2004. 3-4M in annual dive-related
  tourism (only 2 ships in their immediate area).
• Edmonds, WA 2001. 1M in annual dive-related
  tourism at the Edmonds Underwater Park.
• Florida Keys generates 100M annually on wreck
  diving alone.

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Yukon Economic Benefits

• Cost 1.5M (contributions, work, in-kind)
• Benefits
• San Diego Market impact 4.5 Million/year

• San Diego Non-market impact 1.2 Million/year
• 10,800 dives/year 6,000 from out of town

Pendleton (2005) est. market contributions for
2003
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Economics of CS2R Ships

• Typical Warship (estimates)
• Cleaning Costs 1.2M 3.0M (government funded)
• Reef Preparation Costs 500k - 800k
• Benefit
• Market impact 2.0 Million/year
• Non-market impact 1.0 Million/year
• Increase diver awareness/tourism
• Increase local fishing availability

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Benefits to California

• CA already has strong diving industry
• CA has the potential for increasing both number
  of dives/yr and per person-dive/yr
• Sinking additional ships off CA will enhance
  diving and tourism industries
• With coordinated network of sink sites increased,
  global perception of CA as a wreck diving
  destination will also increase

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Present

• Site Investigation and environmental reviews for
  sites in LA, Northern California, Orange County.
• Project Representatives interviewing
  governmental, ecological, fishing industry, and
  industry groups to coordinate efforts.

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Vision

• Regional system of reefed ships along the
  California Coast
• Accomplished via state wide coalition of
  SinkGroups
• Enhance California ground fish populations
• Establish greater California as international
  dive destination
• Enhance the of tourism centered on fishing and
  diving.

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Strategy

• 3 Ship pilot program, followed by Sink Fleets
  (approx 6 ships per fleet) secured from U.S. Navy
  Inactive Fleet MARAD National Defense Reserve
  Fleet.
• Approximately 1 Sink Fleet per year for 15 years
• Leverage experience obtained through Project
  Yukon, Florida, British Columbia and other
  successful programs.

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Ships-to-Reefs Coordination

• National
• EPA cleaning regulations
• Standardize request process (Navy/MARAD)
• Financial support standards (/ship)
• State
• Pipeline request process
• EPA cleaning regulations (CA modifications)
• Streamlined Costal Commission approval
• CA Dept of Fish Game Process approval (need
  help)
• Local LA
• Site Investigation
• Public Education and Coordination
• Fundraising to make ships diver-friendly
• Eventual sinking and maintenance of ships

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Included Guidelines/Examples

• Pipeline Plan Content
• Site Selection
• Bottom composition
• Proximity to existing biomass
• Navigational feasibility
• Ship Criteria
• See next slide
• Compliance with Cleaning Standards
• Local Concurrence

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Vessel Selection Criteria

• Size
• Less than 500 long.
• Less than 80 wide. (One compartment rule)
• Less than 80 from keel to highest point.
• Type
• Combatant vessels are excellent.
• Non-combatant vessels
• Age of Construction
• Vessels constructed after 1979 are presumed to be
  free of PCBs.
• Vessels constructed after 1980 are presumed to be
  free of asbestos.
• Anti-fouling paint over 12 years old may not
  require removal.

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Challenges and False Concepts

• Historical Management-Related Issues
• Inadequate funding to fully address all elements
  of project.
• Little or no professional involvement.
• Lack of legitimate scientific benchmarking
  monitoring.
• Current Scientific/Fisheries Issues
• Cultured reefs with known coordinates create
  adult fish habitat, making fish easy prey.
  (killing zones)
• Sunken ships snare derelict fishing gear.
  Derelict fishing gear kills animals
  indiscriminately until removed.

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Meeting the ChallengesCorrecting the
Disinformation

• Historical Management-Related Issues
• Funding for towing, cleaning, sinking will come
  from government. Preparation for fisheries/divers
  to be through local municipalities (based on
  economic development analysis.)
• There are several companies that have formed over
  the last 5 years that specialize (worldwide) on
  the administration of reefinge.g. Reefmakers.
• SDOF/CS2R is continuing to work with the
  scientific community on developing/defining
  benchmarking and monitoring processes.
• Current Scientific/Fisheries Issues
• Currently under study whether this is true.
  Marine Protected Areas are a likely reality (in
  CA)
• In 5 years of monitoring Yukon, we have not
  identified any affects of this.

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Summary

• STLA, CS2R, state, national and international
  affiliates.
• Use surplus Navy ships as cultured reefs

• Ecological Treasures Promote fish populations
• Economic Treasures - Provide Diver friendly sites
  and tourism benefits
• Government Solves disposal problem

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Questions?

• Harvey Schmiedeke Sunken Treasures Society of
  Los Angeles harveyssi_at_hotmail.com,
  www.sunkentreasures.org
• John Daley California Ships to
  Reefsjad_at_ships2reefs.comwww.ships2reefs.com
• San Diego Oceans Foundation
• www. sdoceans.org

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