MIAMI — Underneath Florida’s coastal waters, there are countless historical shipwrecks.
Today, many of them are fruitful fish habitats, attractive dive sites and tourist attractions.
So now, there’s an effort underway to create 3D models of these shipwrecks and other artificial reefs, and showcase them to the world.
One 3D model is of the Rio Miami.
It’s an exact model of the old tugboat that scuttled in the waters off Key Biscayne in 1989.
Upright and intact, this now artificial reef is listing at approximately 45 degrees in 75 feet of water.
We know this because divers went into the water there on Wednesday, and by Thursday, gave us a 3D model to examine and enjoy.
Peter McDougal, of Reef Smart Guides, and his team, based in Toronto came to South Florida to work with the Miami-Dade Reef Guard Foundation.
“Miami divers know exactly how awesome their diving is,” McDougal said. “But few outside of the area are aware of just the incredible number of shipwrecks that are in these Miami waters.”
So the mission is to show and sell the world on what’s below; to make our waters even more of a tourist attraction than they already are.
“We’ve got ships, we’ve got tugs, we’ve got barges -- even got a 737 airplane… We’ve got some Army tanks,” Nick Morrell, co-founder of the Reef Guard Foundation, said.
There is a wide range of wrecks turned into artificial reefs that should be attractive to divers from around the world -- more than 100 in the waters off Miami-Dade County alone.
And these models give people who love the ocean and those who’d rather stay on dry land a first look at the ever-changing environment down below.
“We want divers to know exactly what they’re diving on when they get in,” McDougal said. “They can review our models and dive accordingly. ”But it’s also important to connect the general public to the ocean; to help them see and understand this is what’s under the water.”
“The artificial reefs -- they provide fish habitat that wasn’t there before -- it was just sand,” Morrell said. “And they also provide a diver diversion. So divers, if there were not artificial reefs, they would dive the whole time on our natural coral reef which produces quite a lot of diving pressure.”
In other words, that would not be good for the health of the natural reef.
McDougal and his divers shot enough video and processed enough data to create models for nine artificial reefs.
McDougal said making some of the models will take some time.
“As I say, more than 100 artificial reefs to do. So we’re not going to run out of stuff to do very quickly, are we?” Morrell said.
There’s no timetable to get the mapping of these shipwrecks and artificial reefs done.
The good news is that the Reef Guard Foundation knows where they are. All they have to do is shoot the video, send the video to Reef Smart Guides, and in a matter of days, the models are made.
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