An artificial reef (AR) is a human-created freshwater or marine benthic structure. Typically built in areas with a generally featureless bottom to promote marine life, it may be intended to control erosion, protect coastal areas, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, support reef restoration, improve aquaculture, or enhance scuba diving and surfing. Early artificial reefs were built by the Persians and the Romans.
HMCS Yukon was a Mackenzie-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and later the Canadian Forces. She was the first Canadian naval unit to carry the name. She was named for the Yukon River that runs from British Columbia through Yukon and into Alaska in the United States.
HMCS Cape Breton was a Royal Canadian Navy Cape-class maintenance ship. Originally built for the Royal Navy as HMS Flamborough Head in 1944, she was transferred in 1952. Upon her commissioning she was the second ship to bear the name Cape Breton. She served operationally from 1953–1964, when she was laid up. She was used as a floating machine shop until the late-1990s, before being sold for use as an artificial reef off the coast of British Columbia.
Halkett Bay Marine Provincial Park is a provincial park off Gambier Island in British Columbia, Canada.
HMCS Annapolis was an Annapolis-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later, the Canadian Forces. She was the second Canadian naval unit to carry this name. Named for the Annapolis River that flows through Nova Scotia, the ship entered service in 1964, the last of the St. Laurent-class design. Serving through the Cold War, Annapolis was decommissioned in 1998 before going through a protracted legal battle for use as an artificial reef. She was finally scuttled as such in 2015 off the coast of British Columbia.
HMCS Mackenzie was a Mackenzie-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and later the Canadian Forces. She was the lead ship of her class and is the first Canadian naval unit to carry this name. The ship was named for the Mackenzie River, the largest river system in Canada and runs primarily through the Northwest Territories.
HMCS Restigouche was the lead ship of the Restigouche-class destroyers that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces. Commissioned in 1958, Restigouche remained in service until 1994. She was sold for use as an artificial reef, however controversy arose over her acquisition and instead she was scuttled off the coast of Mexico in 2001. She was the second Canadian warship to carry the name HMCS Restigouche.
MV Adolphus Busch was a cargo ship that was sunk off of Looe Key, Florida, as an artificial reef and dive site.
HMCS Saguenay was a St. Laurent-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from 1956–1990. She was the second vessel in her class and the second Canadian naval unit to carry the name HMCS Saguenay. After being discarded by the Canadian Forces, the ship was sunk as an artificial reef off the coast of Nova Scotia.
HMCS Saskatchewan was a Mackenzie-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and later the Canadian Forces. She was the second Canadian naval unit to bear the name HMCS Saskatchewan. The ship was named for the Saskatchewan River which runs from Saskatchewan to Manitoba in Canada.
HMCS Chaudière was a Restigouche-class destroyer and the second vessel of her class that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from 1959 to 1974. She was the second Canadian naval unit to bear this name. During the summer of 1974 she along with her sister ship HMCS Columbia served as the base of operations for the Esquimalt Sea Cadet Camp while being docked at the DND jetty in Colwood. This location was across the harbour from the main site of CFB Esquimalt. Following the vessel's decommissioning, the ship was used as a source for spare parts for the other surviving members of her class. In 1991, Chaudière was sold for use as an artificial reef and sunk off the coast of British Columbia.
Snake Island is a small, uninhabited, rocky island northeast of Nanaimo. It is a minor member of the large group of islands east of southern Vancouver Island called the Gulf Islands. It is a bird sanctuary, and home to a colony of harbour seals. The island is a frequent destination for local wildlife tours, and the rocky shores and reefs around the island are popular with divers. Local seals have become accustomed to divers in the water, and will interact with them.
Wreck Alley is an area a few miles off the coast of Mission Beach, San Diego, California with several ships intentionally sunk as artificial reefs and as Scuba diving attractions for wreck divers.
HMCS Columbia was a Restigouche-class destroyer that served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later the Canadian Forces from 1959 to 1974. Columbia was the seventh and final ship in her class and is the second Canadian naval unit to carry the name HMCS Columbia. Following her service, she was kept at Esquimalt in an altered condition, no longer capable of sailing. During the summer of 1974 she along with her sister ship HMCS Chaudiere served as the base of operations for the Esquimalt Sea Cadet Camp while being docked at the DND jetty in Colwood. This location was across the harbour from the main site of CFB Esquimalt. Columbia was sold for use as an artificial reef and sunk off the coast of British Columbia in 1996.
Sinking ships for wreck diving sites is the practice of scuttling old ships to produce artificial reefs suitable for wreck diving, to benefit from commercial revenues from recreational diving of the shipwreck, or to produce a diver training site.
The Gibraltar Artificial Reef, or simply the Gibraltar Reef, is the ongoing artificial reef project for the Mediterranean waters surrounding the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The initiative was started in 1973 by Dr. Eric Shaw of the Helping Hand Trust.
The Cancún Underwater Museum is a non-profit organization based in Cancún, Mexico devoted to the art of conservation. The museum has a total of 500 sculptures, by a series of international and local sculptors, with three different galleries submerged between three and six meters deep in the ocean at the Cancún National Marine Park. The museum was thought up by Marine Park Director Jaime González Cano, with the objective of saving the nearby coral reefs by providing an alternative destination for divers. It was started in 2009 and officially opened in November 2010.
Shark River Reef is an artificial reef located in the Atlantic Ocean, 15.6 miles southeast of Manasquan Inlet, off of the coast of Ocean County, New Jersey. The site contains almost 4 million cubic yards of dredge rock material. Although 96% of the total reef material is rock, the site also contains numerous subway cars.
The following index is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Wikipedia's articles on recreational dive sites. The level of coverage may vary:
Recreational dive sites are specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or for training purposes. They include technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of diver training and leading groups of recreational divers, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.
