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A shipwreck can be like a phoenix of the ocean.
Underwater life can sometimes spring from the demise of an ocean vessel.
By studying shipwrecks, researchers have found that ships are surprisingly
good for marine life, especially certain endangered fish.
But shipwrecks come with some pretty clear dangers, so we’re
finding other ways to bring the same benefits to fish: through underwater art.
There are places all over the world, usually where the
waters are most dangerous, where shipwrecks litter the ocean floor.
These places are known as shipwreck graveyards.
And marine animals, from sand tiger sharks in the Atlantic Ocean to
dusky grouper fish in the Mediterranean Sea, are impacted
by these sudden sunken ships in both good ways and bad.
Dusky groupers are iconic in the Mediterranean Sea.
But over time, they’ve become endangered.
In a weird twist of marine biology, shipwrecks have inadvertently
benefited them by providing a new habitat.
Researchers have found that there’s more biodiversity
around shipwrecks than other parts of the sea.
And dusky groupers are a part of that biodiversity, probably for a few reasons,
like the shelter from fishing equipment that old ships can provide.
And these groupers often return to
the same place year after year to mate, among other things.
So shipwrecks might help these fish make a comeback.
But, they also come with some drawbacks.
When they sank, some ships were transporting chemicals
that could be toxic to sea life.
For example, research in the Mediterranean found
significantly higher levels of arsenic in the soil around shipwrecks.
And some ships were made with electrical systems that have transformers and
other devices onboard that can leak dangerous fluids into the surrounding area.
And these chemical changes in the sea ecosystem
can be found decades after the wreck.
So anything from cargo, like weapons and vehicles,
or the ship itself decomposing in the water can leak into these fish’s homes.
One 2017 study in the Mediterranean Sea found higher levels
of these chemicals in the livers of fish sampled
near shipwrecks compared to those sampled farther away.
So we might have accidentally given these fish
a new home with our shipwrecks, but that home is poisoning them.
That’s why some groups have started to create safer alternative refuges
for animals like groupers. …In the form of underwater art installations.
Off the coast of Tuscany, for example, a sculpture garden called
“La Casa Dei Pesci” is anchored to the bottom of the Mediterranean sea.
It consists of dozens of marble sculptures designed to be underwater.
They’re placed on the seabed at strategic distances
from each other to block trawling nets used in illegal fishing practices.
That way, they can provide some of the same benefits
that shipwrecks give the fish, like safety from fishing.
But underwater museums aren’t just for environmental protection.
They’re also art, so they function as tourist attractions.
Anyone can travel to see the museum and
scuba dive through a tour of the life that it sustains.
And when you take photographs of wildlife around these tourist attractions,
those pictures could be used in research to protect the nature that you’re enjoying.
And this isn’t just happening in the Mediterranean;
Australia has also joined the underwater museum movement.
The Museum of Underwater Art in the Great Barrier Reef
began construction in 2019, just like La Casa Dei Pesci.
Much like shipwreck graveyards, these objects on the ocean floor can
protect sea life from dangerous fishing techniques.
And they don’t have any of the fuel, cargo,
electrical systems and toxic chemicals that shipwrecks can have.
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