Salvaging the corals on the Million Hope.

Recent visitors to the Sharm el Sheikh area, may have noticed a bit of a salvage project going on in the Tiran area. This may be sad news to some who have dived the wreck of the Million Hope in the past. However the dive itself has had the tendency to be a touch risky, as it is prone to silting, sometimes enough to reduce visibility inside the wreck to zero. (not a good thing when you are underwater and need to find an exit!). So the salvage guys have moved in and are recovering the wreck for scrap metal.

Before you ask what is going to happen to all the glorious corals that have colonated the wreck, they too are being salvaged! One of our local guys Mark Fraenknel is heading a team in conjunction with the Ras Mohammed National Park to collect samples of coral growing on the wreck and transplant them onto the artificial reef that is developing in the Red Sea Diving College area of Naama Bay. And the really good news is that corals that have been salvaged from a different area in the Sinai, are actually beginning to flourish! After a bit of initial bleaching, they have not died, and some are even showing signs in just six weeks, of actually growing around the metal frame that is their new home!!! This bodes well for the future of the corals due to be rescued from the Million Hope this month.

Pop along to the Red Sea College web-site to read the full story and see pickies of the event, and its results. You can actually see the coral starting to attach itself to the girders of the artificial reef!

Or why not share your feelings on this subject in our Forum?

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