USS Arthur W Radford

The U.S. Navy Destroyer Arthur W. Radford, a massive 563 footer, is due to be sunk 30 miles from the shore of Cape May County next month. This is the largest ship thus far which has been sunk to become part of an artificial reef system.

It is expected that this ship will become the star of the show, and attract many inquisitive scuba divers and fishermen at the Deljerseyland Reef. The reef is the brainchild of New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland to help not only help the environment, but to also promote tourism in the area. Rather than sell the hulk off for scrap, they instead raised the estimated value of $800,000 from private parties interested in supporting the project, and will be trying to do some good with it. The $800,000 raised is being split by the three states, whom will all benefit from the artificial reef project.

Some question the logic behind doing such a project, however it is a very good move, both economically and politically. The green groups will be happy, as it is helping out the environment, and the tax payers will be happy, as the added tourism and influx of funds generated by the reef, should help to ease the drain on their wallets.

The destroyer is currently sitting at the Philadelphia shipyard and awaiting the torpedoes which will place it into its new watery home at the bottom of the sea.

Galapagos Island

The navy in Ecuador took charge of a fishing boat, of Costa Rican origin dubbed the Rosa I, which had a bountiful cargo of shark meat. This boat was seized in the Galapagos Islands, and an investigation is underway to determine whether the shark came from the archipelago, where shark fishing has been outlawed.

The vessel was halted just shy of 104 nautical miles northwest of Darwin Island with over 70 pieces of shark meat in its hold, Ecuavisa television reported.

This Costa Rican fishing boat had five crewman and a dog on board.

The investigators, from the Ecuadorian Navy, are still trying to determine if in fact the sharks were caught inside or outside a protected marine reserve.

It is a fact that the sharks were reeled in in international waters, however the fishing boat was forced to enter the Galapagos due to some emergency aboard, the captain of the vessel, Wainer Bonilla, explained to Ecuavisa.

“We entered Ecuadorian waters because we were having problems with the main engine,” Bonilla commented.

The crew on the Rosa I scratch out a living by fishing for sharks, which is perfectly acceptable in Costa Rica, Bonilla explained, adding that each portion of the shark meat nets them a cool $60 to $70 in the country.

This is the fourth such fishing boat which has been stopped in the Galapagos this year for illegal fishing.. It doesn’t look good does it?

Nor does it look good, that Costa Rican waters were over fished over the past few years… But only time will tell if the Rosa I and her crew were guilty of any crime.

A new study funded by the U.S. navy and the Office of Naval Research show that Beaked whales are at higher risk of developing decompression sickness since they live with extremely high levels of nitrogen in their blood and body tissues. This may explain why beaked whales seem to be especially susceptible to naval sonar. If the sonar causes the animals to surface more rapidly than they would normally do, e.g. because they are frightened by the underwater sounds, it may lead to decompression sickness which may in turn explain the strandings associated with naval sonar exercises.

Decompression sickness, commonly referred to as “the bends” among scuba divers, is a consequence of the sudden drop in pressure that occurs when you ascend rapidly from the deep. When mammals dive, nitrogen builds in our bodies. If we ascend slowly the nitrogen isn’t dangerous, but if we ascend too quickly the nitrogen forms bubbles inside the body. Tiny bubbles might not sound like anything to fuzz about, but within the body it can be lethal.

Beaked whales are believed to accumulate large amounts of nitrogen within their bodies since they make repeated dives to such great depths. They can stay submerged without breathing for long periods of time and are capable of descending down to nearly 1,500 metres. Having this inclination for decompression sickness may explain why beaked whales seem to be more vulnerable to naval sonar than other marine mammals.

“It provides more evidence that beaked whales that are being found dead in association with naval sonar activities are likely to be getting decompression sickness,” said Robin Baird, a marine biologist at Cascadia Research Collective and one of the report’s authors.

The study has focused on three species of beaked whale: Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), Blainville’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), and the Northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus). The Northern bottlenose whale was studied off the cost of Nova Scotia, Canada while the two others were observed around Hawaii, U.S.

According to a 2006 report in the Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, 41 known cases of mass strandings of Cuvier’s beaked whales have occurred since 1960. Some of them have happened at the same time as naval sonar exercises in the area, including Greece in 1996, the Bahamas in 2000, and the Canary Islands in 2002. When the beaked whales stranded in Bahamas were autopsied, they turned out to have bleedings around their brains and ears; bleedings which may have been caused by nitrogen bubbles.

The U.S. navy has agreed to adopt certain practises to protect whales, but is resisting more stringent restrictions until more scientific evidence is at hand. The navy has budgeted 26 million US per year over the next five years to fund marine mammal research on how these animals are affected by sound.

If you wish to find out more about the beaked whale study, it is published online this week in the journal Respiratory Physiology and Neurobiology.

This Monday, a Megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) was caught by a Taitung fisherman off the coast of Taiwan.

According to National Taiwan Ocean University’s Department of Environmental Biology and
Fisheries Science, the shark, which was netted off the county’s Chenggong coast, is only the 42nd that has been caught or sighted worldwide and the ninth in Taiwan since the species was discovered in 1976.

Mega mouth shark exhibited at the Aburatsubo Marine

The shark was identified by marine biologist Tien from the Eastern Marine Biology Research
Center (a part of the Council of Agriculture’s Fisheries Research Institute). It was 3.9 meter long, weighed 350 kilograms, and its mouth measured 75 centimeters across when opened.

The shark has now been purchased for NT$18,000 (US$549) by Chen Wen-jung, owner of a local shark museum where the fish will be displayed as a preserved specimen. Wen-jung said he has collected dozens of shark specimens but that this was his first Megamouth.

In late March 2009, a 500-kilogram, 4-meter long Megamouth shark was caught off Burias Island in the Philippines and turned into kinunot.

Big-mouthed but elusive
The Megamouth shark remained unknown to science until November 15, 1976 when a 4.5 meter long specimen became entangled in the sea anchor of a United States Navy ship about 25 miles off the coast off Kaneohe in Hawaii. Since then, the Megamouth has continued to be a rare sight and this deep water shark has for instance only been recorded on film three times.

The Megamouth is named after its gigantic mouth which it uses to filter out plankton and jellyfish from the water. When feeding, Megamouth swims around with its mouth wide open in a fashion similar to the Basking shark. The mouth is surrounded by luminous photophores, which may act as a lure for plankton or small fish. Megamouth can also be recognized on its large head and rubbery lips.

When long-line fishing boat captain Rodney Solomon reeled in an air-to-air missile 50 miles (80km) off Panama City in Florida, he did what anyone would have done – strapped it to his boat and enjoyed the remaining 10 days of his fishing trip.

After returning from his trip, Solomon reported his unusual find to the local fire department only to find out that the missile was live and could have gone off any time.

Mr Solomon told local news organisation WTSP that fishermen are used to being in danger and are usually unflappable. “We’re fishermen, nothing scares us!”

But he admits that this experience “was kind of a fright“.

“It was like, ‘wow man, you all took a big chance bringing in this missile, he said. “You had it on your boat for 10 days and any time it could have exploded on you.”

Sidewinder

Solomon had assumed that the missile had gone off earlier since he found a hole in it.

“He actually came to the fire station and told us he had caught a Tomahawk missile, said local fire chief, Derryl O’Neal, “but it turned out not to be – it was an air-to-air guided missile, known as a Sidewinder“.

The firemen quickly evacuated the area around the missile until and the deadly device could eventually be dismantled without causing any damages. The missile was caught in or near a zone used by defence forces for testing.

Local fishermen are being advised not to bring in any similar discovery, but to alert authorities to its exact location.

As reported earlier here and here, the retired 523-foot military vessel “Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg” was scheduled to be sunk this month to become an artificial reef off the Floridian coast, and we can now happily report that everything has gone according to plan.

After being slightly delayed last minute by a sea turtle venturing into the sinking zone, Vandenberg was successfully put to rest roughly 7 miles south-southeast of Key West at 10:24 a.m., May 27.

Once 44 carefully positioned explosive charges had been detonated, Vandenberg gracefully slipped below the water’s surface in no more than 1 minute and 54 seconds. It is now resting rightside-up on the sea bottom at a depth of roughly 140 feet (43 metres) in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Divers and other underwater specialists are currently surveying the ship to make sure it is safe for the public to explore. Hopefully, Vandenberg will open up for public diving by Friday morning.

Over 20 cameras were mounted on the vessel to capture images of it descending into the blue, cameras that are now being retrieved by an underwater team.

Vandenberg is the second largest vessel ever intentionally sunk to become an artificial reef. In 2006, the 888-foot long USS Oriskany, also known as CV-34, was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico, south of Pensacola, Florida.

A sinking date has now been set for the retired military vessel scheduled to form an artificial reef off Key West in Florida. If everything goes according to plan, Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg – a 523-foot-long military ship that used to track Russian missile launches during the Cold War – will be sunk seven miles (11 km) south of Key West on May 27.

“Our sink window opens Wednesday, May 27, and that’s the date we’re currently targeting,” said Jim Scholl, Key West’s city manager and project administrator. “However, there are factors that could delay the scuttling, including weather and other unforeseen circumstances.”

A definite time for the sinking has not yet been set, but the event will probably take place during late morning, officials said.

During the sinking, a one-mile perimeter will be enforced on the water and in the air by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and other U.S. law enforcement agencies.

Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg is currently waiting in Key West Harbor.

After a 1,100-mile voyage and more than ten years of planning and acquiring funding resources, the ex-military ship Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg finally arrived in Key West this Wednesday.

The ship is scheduled to be sunk sometime between May 20 and June 1 and will eventually form the second largest artificial reef in the world. The ship will rest some six miles south of Key West in 140 feet of water in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

“We’re all pretty excited here in Key West and particularly in view of the fact this is going to be the second largest artificial reef in the world,” said Key West City Commissioner Bill Verge, who is serving as a project liaison between the city and various state and federal agencies.

“One of the big products that we make here is happy vacations,” said Joe Weatherby who conceived the project some 13 years ago. “And we feel that this artificial reef is the world’s best product ever produced for scuba diving. People are going to come from all over the world to dive this, but this product also has been designed so we can offer it to glass bottom boat riders, snorkelers or new divers as well as advanced divers, it holds interest for all of them.”

The Vandenberg is now undergoing final preparations before the scuttling and is for instance fitted with several hundred big holes along its decks and sides to prevent it from falling over as it sinks. The ship has already been ridded from potentially dangerous materials by two Norfolk, Va., shipyards who removed 71 cubic yards of asbestos, 193 tons of materials that contained potentially carcinogenic substances, 46 tons of refuse, 300 pounds of mercury-containing materials and 185 55-gallon drums of paint chips. The cleaning required 75,000 man-hours and used up 70 percent of the projects $8.6 million US dollars.

The artificial reef is becoming a reality thanks to the cooperation of a lot of different people and entities. It is funded by Monroe County, the Florida Governor’s Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development; City of Key West, U.S. Maritime Administration, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Keys & Key West tourism council, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as well as by industry and private donations. Banks that provided loans include First State Bank of the Florida Keys, BB&T and Orion.

As of now, you can find the Vandenberg docked behind the USS Mohawk at the East Quay Wall in Truman Annex Harbor. The USS Mohawk is a historic Coast Guard ship open as a floating museum.

History of the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg

This ship has not always been known under the name Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg; it used to be a U.S. Army troop transport named the General Harry Taylor. In 1963 it got its new name, the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, as it began tracking the U.S. space program’s launches off Cape Canaveral. Vandenberg has also been used for monitoring U.S. defense missile test launches in the Pacific as well as eaves dropping on Russian missile launches during the Cold War. Its last active duty homeport was Port Canaveral in Florida, from 1976 to the ships formal retirement in 1983.

In 1983, the Vandenberg was moved to the James River Naval Reserve Fleet. Even though it had been formally retired, it was still kept in a state of readiness in case it would be needed again. Every six months, technicians would power up all its electronics and make any necessary repairs. It was kept like this for 10 years until it was formally struck from the naval register in 1993 and transferred to the Maritime Administration.

After this, the ship began a new life and did for instance serve as a Russian science ship in the 1999 movie “Virus,” where it played its part alongside Hollywood stars like William Baldwin, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Donald Sutherland.