Sinking Ship

The marine environment around Ilha De Mozambique is spectacular, but, like other places on the planet, it is stressed and could do with a little help. Sadly however, the opposite is happening. Somebody has recently dumped a great big ship on the local beach and now the outlook for our mangroves, coral reefs, turtles, dolphins and all the other sea creatures has suddenly got a whole lot worse. The

ship is the DSV Discovery, it belongs (or did until very recently) to Portuguese commercial company Arqueonautas, S.A. They no longer have a license to operate in Mozambique, and having failed to find a buyer for the ship, it appears they have simply decided to abandon it, and now it has sank. There are many problems with this, but the most pressing is that no attempt has been made to clean up the ship before it went down and so as it breaks up it will discharge all kinds of harmful toxins into the sea. Already it is leaving an oily scum on the surface and bits of plastic and other stuff are breaking free. The real trouble begins a year or two from now when the hoses perish and hundreds or even thousands of litres of hydraulic oil flow into the sea. After that we need to worry about the engine and gearbox oils, coolants, battery acid, asbestos and who knows what else. Sadly when we looked into what can be done we found that there aren’t many options available. The Discovery’s cannot be moved to another port because of its condition and the inconvenient fact that it no longer floats. It cannot be commercially scrapped because there are no cranes here to lift the heavy metal sections and also (due to weight restrictions on the bridge) no big trucks available to carry the scrap metal away. It seems the only real option is to accept that it is here to stay, but to try find a way to turn the situation around so that it becomes a positive for both the island and the marine environment. We suggest refloating the Discovery, removing all contaminants, and then having it carefully towed to a site nearby where it can be re-sunk to form an artificial reef. If done properly this will provide a boost for the marine environment as well as the islands two main industries: fisheries and tourism. Obviously, this wont be easy but it may not be as difficult as you might think. To begin with the hull appears to be ok, what water enters the ship does so through various pipes and intakes that should be easy to plug. When it comes to emptying water out of the hull so it can float, there are two options being discussed: the first would require a bit of engineering to allow water to drain freely on the low tide but not refill again on the high tide. The second is to plug the intakes and pump the water out, the cost of which may be bore by Arqueonautas. (They still maintain this is what they intend to do but as each tide cycle passes it seems less likely). Perhaps they can be shamed into action. Please show your support, "like this page" and follow the progress. Help us reach out to people with the skills to make a difference