Former Smuggling Vessel To Be Sunk To Make Artificial Reef

A former smuggling vessel, discovered by the authorities a decade ago, would be transformed into an artificial reef for divers off the Co Mayo coast.

The smuggling vessel was MV Shingle which was seized by the Irish authorities in 2014. The ship was meant to transport 32 million cigarettes and 4.5 tonnes of taboos in that year.

(Also read: 5 Lesser-Known Facts of Ireland’s Forgotten Lusitania)

After the High Court orders regarding the ship’s forfeiture, it was hard to discern what to do about the 60-metre vessel. It has mainly sat in storage at Dublin Port costing them €7,000 per month.

Even the moving of the ship to New Ross last year was only €4,000 monthly where they thought the vessel would stay in the region. Remedial works and maintenance costs posted extra charges for the ship’s caretaking.

An artificial reef is a manmade marine structure to enhance the ecosystems and the pertinent marine life. The Co Mayo coast would witness the sinking of MV Shingle by opening its valves within a time of two hours and then letting it sink to 29m below and more than 4 km away from the bay.

The sinking can be viewed live online. It is streamed as a joint venture between the local company Killala Bay Ships 2 Reef, Sligo County Council, Mayo County Council and the Revenue Commissioners.

The plan for converting former smuggling vessel into divers’ reef

The plan includes scuttling the former smuggling vessel around 3 pm today so that an artificial reef for the divers comes into shape.

Killala Bay Ships 2 Reef (KBS2R) is excited about turning it into a reef as it would become an “Atlantic underwater oasis” for tourism attraction in the region.

A Maritime Area Consent licence allowed KBS2R to tow the ship to Killala Bay from New Ross, County Wexford earlier this year. After a three-day journey, the ship was finally brought to Co Mayo which ended yesterday.

The planning was already in the pipeline for which permission was granted by Mayo County Council in July in the running year. The preparation, transportation and placement of the vessel on Killala Bay comprised major proceedings about the reef for divers and tourism in the country.

Michael Loftus, the Local Mayo County councillor and a trained diver, Michael Loftus added that it was an exciting plan to build an artificial reef. It is a plan that could be dated back to 2008, originating from the idea of sinking the former smuggling vessel.

He told the media that the company expects to earn back the €2 million that would be incurred as expenses on the entire project once the reef takes its shape and attracts people to come excited for diving here.

It is predicted that the project will pay off within a time period of three years. The earnings would come from diving tourism, fishing tourism and marine research.

Despite some concerns coming from an environmental group, Coast Watch, Loftus said that the project would “enhance the biodiversity” of the Co Mayo sea area.

The national coordinator of Coast Watch, Karin Dubsky said, “The ship could have been broken with materials recycled” and their features could be put to use later.

She was of the view that the current project would be taken as a case study for future marine and coastal developments in Ireland. It would be a request to the government to hold discussions on how similar future projects would improve such systems.

The Coast Watch group explained that the artificial reef project might experience some “teething pains” in the beginning but the issues would be resolved with time. It is essential to monitor and scrutinise the process closely so that any minute issue is taken care of on time.