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Sank vessels to serve as tourist diving spots
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Posted on Feb 18 1999
After two giant blasts, the two Chinese vessels slowly disappeared in the waters of Sasanhaya Bay amid cheers from curious onlookers.
In an effort to lure more tourists to the island-municipality of Rota, the vessels were sunk last Friday in a sandy section of the bay. With its coral gardens destroyed by the U.S. military almost three years ago, local officials were hoping that this would become an alternative dive site.
It cost the U.S. Marshals $250,000 to clean each vessel according to the strict specifications of the Division of Environmental Quality. The 130-foot vessels, which were used in an attempt to smuggle illegal Chinese aliens were seized on Guam last year by U.S. Marshals.
The U.S. Navy Seals & Ordnance Disposal personnel spent the morning rigging explosives to the hulls of the two rusty vessels. They later on checked the ships to make sure that all the explosives have been detonated. Crews from Mobil Oil moved in later, to conduct an oil spill exercise.
Except for a few dead garden eels and fishes, the CNMI’s Marine Monitoring Team that inspected the area discovered minimal effects of the sinking to the environment. They also noticed a few oil globules occasionally coming out of the vessel and floating to the surface.
Since many people have raised concern on the effect of the intentional sinking of the vessels on the island’s marine life, DEQ and Rota will monitor the long-term effects of the project to the nearby environment.
Part of the condition imposed by DEQ when it allowed the scuttling of the vessels was a ten-year moratorium on the issuance of similar permits for dive sites or artificial reefs, primarily to protect the pristine waters throughout the CNMI.
The sinking of the vessels here was similar to what Bermuda, a British Colony, did in 1996 when it also seized a Chinese ship from immigrant smugglers. The U.S. Coast Guard towed the ship to Miami where it was destroyed and the U.S. government also agreed to partly shoulder the cost of the cleaning.
