Model of navy helicopter to be added to artificial reef in B.C.
A group that transforms decommissioned ships into new marine habitats is hoping to expand one of its artificial reefs north of Vancouver.
The Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia has commissioned a full-scale model of a Sea King helicopter to be built and the lowered 70 feet below the ocean surface onto the flight deck of the HMCS Annapolis.
"It creates (a) vertical habitat as opposed to building stuff on the bottom," said Rick Wall, vice president of the Artificial Reef Society.
"It's creating, like, a cliff face so you get different species that colonize at different heights on the ship," he said.
The Annapolis, a former navy destroyer, was decommissioned in 1996. The Artificial Reef Society then arranged to have the ship submerged in Halkett Bay, B.C. in 2015.
Now the Annapolis is home to over 100 species of sea life, from algae to octopuses.
An interior portion of the artificial reef is shown: (Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia)
"(It can) re-establish the total marine environment so that you get a mix of species coming and you create the whole food chain from the bottom feeders right up to things like salmon and rockfish,” said Wall.
"Rockfish have been, in particular, a success story with what we’ve seen on Annapolis – as have the shrimp," he said. "There’s species of shrimp that they haven’t seen anywhere else in Halkett Bay, for instance."
The group chose the Sea King to accompany the Annapolis because it flew off the warship during its service years. The Annapolis was also the first destroyer on the west coast with an assigned helicopter.
The last Royal Canadian Air Force Sea King helicopters were decommissioned in 2018.
The Artificial Reef Society hopes to move ahead on this project in the spring, pending approval from BC Parks.
The Society started in 1991, and now has 9 vessels acting as artificial reefs in the Salish Sea.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.