Artifical Reefs

Artificial reefs are increasingly used worldwide as a method for managing recreational diving since they have the potential to satisfy both conservation goals and economic interests.

Although there are negative impacts associated with mass diving tourism, scuba diving has the potential to generate substantial revenues. However, balancing the requirements of reef conservation with the needs of local host economies represents a considerable challenge to managers and policymakers.

The ecological role of shipwrecks as artificial reefs is well established and they are often prime and exclusive destinations for diving tourism. But they are also extremely delicate and sensitive environments.

The 60m-long, former tanker Hephaestus, which was scuttled at Xatt l-Aħmar just 30m off Gozo’s south-east coast on 29 August had run aground on rocks in St Paul’s Bay in Malta three and half years ago and subsequently written off.

The TriStar plane is a commercial airliner that has been out of service and parked at King Hussein International Airport for several years. The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) recently purchased the plane with the intention of sinking it, and it was transferred to the main port to prepare it for is final role. The TriStar is the second aircraft to become an artificial reef off Jordan's coastline. In November 2017, a Hercules C130 was scuttled a bit farther down the coast.

Commercial clearance divers were expected to survey the wreck once it had settled later on Sunday to ensure all the charges had detonated.

Moorings will then be installed by Parks Victoria before the government opens the site for divers, in about a month's time.

Built in 1978 and launched two years later, the frigate served Australia for 24 years before it was decommissioned in 2005.

It served in the Middle East following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1992 and helped evacuate Australians from Jakarta in 1998 during the student riots that deposed Indonesian president Suharto.