return to History & News

Wednesday,March 28, 2001

KeyWest Citizen

Layinggroundwork for new reef

BY MANDY BOLEN

Citizen Staff Writer

Divers aboard theliveaboard boat Tiburon this weekend will do more than look at barracuda, searchfor elusive jewfish or perform underwater somersaults. The group will count fishand record their findings to further the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg artificial reefproject.

Joe Weatherby, ofArtificial Reefs of the Keys, has been working to sink the 530-foot militaryship for more than five years. He said he hopes to see it on the bottom of theocean in about 14 months.

That surveyingwill begin this weekend, as 14 divers per day will have the chance to stayaboard the Tiburon and dive all day, armed with a waterproof slate and a list ofidentifiable fish species.

The four-daysurveying allows divers the chance to stay overnight on the boat for up to fourdays, and pay only $20 per day for groceries, Weatherby said.

The divers, whoare required to take a three-hour seminar about fish counting before enteringthe water, will use a roving-diver monitoring technique that requires them tostay within about 100 meters of the dive boat while recording every type of fishthey see.

Tracy Hamilton,an oceanography and marine sciences teacher at Florida Keys Community College,has been teaching the seminars and will be aboard the Tiburon for the first ofseveral surveying projects.

"But thesecondary objective is to open this project up to the general community,"she said. "People who have been diving down here for years are actuallyexcited about doing this."

Local communityinvolvement has been one of Weatherby's goals since he began the task of sinkingthe ship, and he has incorporated the marine-science program at the college intothe plans for the sinking ship.

The Vandenbergwill become an underwater classroom for students with a curriculum specificallydesigned for the ship.

"Everybodyin this town has dive equipment in their closet they haven't used inyears," Weatherby said, adding he wants those people to replace theirO-rings, check their valves and get in the water.

The survey diveswill be at a maximum depth of 50 feet, Hamilton said, and the dive sites willinclude about 20 spots between Key West and the proposed site of the sinking,most of which are already popular dive sites with commercial businesses.

Although mostspots are already filled for this weekend, Weatherby and Hamilton are hoping todo several more trips such as this one before the Vandenberg sinks. They alsosaid that once divers have taken the fish-counting seminar, they can bring theirslate on future, independent dives and continue to count while at the othersites.

"A lot ofthings have evolved with this project," Weatherby said. "But thebiggest things are our involvement with the educational and environmentalprojects -- I have never heard of any other artificial reef project startingtheir monitoring 14 months in advance."

But that timelineis dependent on funding for the project, which requires permits, inspections andenvironmental engineering work plans.

For moreinformation about the Vandenberg, visit http://www.bigshipwrecks.com