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Gibraltar Artificial Reef
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. There are more than 40 dive sites to visit in Gibraltar. Biodiversity is claimed to be high on both natural and artificial reefs. It consists of a collection of sunken wrecks designed to give marine wildlife an environment to breed and colonise. The reef project has been the centre of political disagreements between Spain and the UK government. History Initially experiments were tried with tyres chained together but sand movement and currents proved to be too strong and washed the tyres away or buried them. Benthic stones were used but they also suffered from tidal force and proved too expensive. This was followed by sinking of cars and monitoring the effects of sealife upon them, including a Mercedes-Benz t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gibraltar Port Authority
The Gibraltar Port Authority develops and manages the Port of Gibraltar. History On 19 February 1706, Anne, Queen of Great Britain granted Free Port status to Gibraltar. In the early 18th century, Gibraltar was principally a garrison where commerce was negligible. Following the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, Gibraltar was established as a port for international trade. The government-administered Gibraltar Port Authority was founded in 1806. In 1823, the first steamship appeared in the Gibraltar Port which gradually evolved into a bunkering port. The independent Gibraltar Port Authority was established in 2005 by the Gibraltar Port Authority Act. The Act of Parliament also provided for the transfer of some responsibilities from the Government of Gibraltar to the Authority. Members of the Authority were appointed, effective 1 June 2006. In 2005/2006, GPA's total revenue was £583,900, and its total expenditure £519,816.59. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artificial Reefs
An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many reefs are built using objects that were built for other purposes, such as by sinking oil rigs (through the Rigs-to-Reefs program), scuttling ships, or by deploying rubble or construction debris. Other artificial reefs are purpose-built (e.g. the reef balls) from PVC or concrete. Shipwrecks may become artificial reefs when preserved on the seafloor. Regardless of construction method, artificial reefs generally provide hard surfaces where algae and invertebrates such as barnacles, corals, and oysters attach; the accumulation of attached marine life in turn provides intricate structures and food for assemblages of fish. History The construction of artificial reefs began in ancient times. Persians blocked the mouth of the Tigris River to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Underwater Diving
Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context. Immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in ambient pressure diving. Humans are not physiologically and anatomically well-adapted to the environmental conditions of diving, and various equipment has been developed to extend the depth and duration of human dives, and allow different types of work to be done. In ambient pressure diving, the diver is directly exposed to the pressure of the surrounding water. The ambient pressure diver may dive on breath-hold (freediving) or use breathing apparatus for scuba diving or surface-supplied diving, and the saturation diving technique reduces the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) after long-duration deep dives ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reef
A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock outcrops, etc.—but there are also reefs such as the coral reefs of tropical waters formed by biotic processes dominated by corals and coralline algae, and artificial reefs such as shipwrecks and other anthropogenic underwater structures may occur intentionally or as the result of an accident, and sometimes have a designed role in enhancing the physical complexity of featureless sand bottoms, to attract a more diverse assemblage of organisms. Reefs are often quite near to the surface, but not all definitions require this. Earth's largest coral reef system is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, at a length of over . Biotic There is a variety of biotic reef types, including oyster reefs and sponge reefs, but the most massive and widely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fishing Trawler
A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate Trawling, fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets that are pulled along the bottom of the sea or in midwater at a specified depth. A trawler may also operate two or more trawl nets simultaneously (double-rig and multi-rig). There are many variants of trawling gear. They vary according to local traditions, bottom conditions, and how large and powerful the trawling boats are. A trawling boat can be a small open boat with only 30 horsepower (22 kW) or a large factory ship with 10,000 horsepower (7457 kW). Trawl variants include beam trawls, large-opening midwater trawls, and large bottom trawls, such as "rock hoppers" that are rigged with heavy rubber wheels that let the net crawl over rocky bottom. History During the 17th century, the British developed the Dogge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity" and focuses its campaigning on worldwide issues such as climate change, deforestation, overfishing, commercial whaling, genetic engineering, and anti-nuclear issues. It uses direct action, lobbying, research, and ecotage to achieve its goals. The network comprises 26 independent national/regional organisations in over 55 countries across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, as well as a co-ordinating body, Greenpeace International, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The global network does not accept funding from governments, corporations, or political parties, relying on three million individual supporters and foundation grants. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trawling
Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different species of fishes or sometimes targeted species. Trawls are often called towed gear or dragged gear. The boats that are used for trawling are called trawlers or draggers. Trawlers vary in size from small open boats with as little as 30 hp (22 kW) engines to large factory trawlers with over 10,000 hp (7.5 MW). Trawling can be carried out by one trawler or by two trawlers fishing cooperatively (pair trawling). Trawling can be contrasted with trolling. While trawling involves a net and is typically done for commercial usage, trolling instead involves a reed, rod and a bait or a lure and is typically done for recreational purposes. Trawling is also commonly used as a scientific sampling, or survey, method. Bottom vs. midwater trawling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Europa Point
Europa Point (Spanish language, Spanish and Llanito: Punta de Europa or Punta Europa), is the southernmost point of Gibraltar (the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula being Punta de Tarifa 25 km southwest of Gibraltar). At the end of the Rock of Gibraltar, the area is flat and occupied by such features as a playing field and a few buildings. On a clear day, views of North Africa can be seen across the Strait of Gibraltar including Ceuta and the Rif Mountains of Morocco; as well as the Bay of Gibraltar and the Spain, Spanish towns along its shores. It is reached from the old town by Europa Road. Overview There are five notable buildings, Harding's Battery, the Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim Mosque, the Roman Catholicism in Gibraltar, Roman Catholic Shrine of Our Lady of Europe, the Europa Point Lighthouse and the Nun's Well, Gibraltar, Nun's Well. Europa Point is also the location of Gibraltar's only dedicated cricket oval where the Gibraltar national cricket team play and since 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MV New Flame
MV ''New Flame'' was a Panamanian bulk-carrier cargo ship. It collided with an oil tanker off Europa Point, the southernmost tip of Gibraltar on 12 August 2007, and ended up partially submerged in the Strait of Gibraltar. The vessel broke into two in December 2007 amid numerous unsuccessful recovery efforts. The cargo was salvaged and the stern section removed for scrap. Following the crew's rescue, the captain was arrested for having departed without authorisation. Charges of endangering shipping were later dropped. Ship description ''New Flame'' measured long, wide and tall, of which were under the water line. It measured and had a capacity of nearly . At time of the incident it had a crew of 23 and it was owned by Transmar, a Greek shipping company. The ship was built in June 1994 by Daewoo H.I, South Korea and first named as ''Skaustrand''. From 1995 it was named ''Aditya Gautam'' and was owned by the Indian company Century Textiles & Industries Ltd, who sold it i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camp Bay, Gibraltar
Camp Bay (or El Quarry in Llanito) is a small rocky beach in the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located off Rosia Road along the territory's west coast overlooking the Bay of Gibraltar. Parson's Lodge Battery overlooks the northern end of the bay. Artificial reef Camp Bay is home to what is claimed to be Europe's first artificial reef. The reef was created by activists who were concerned at the scarcity of Marine biology#Reefs, marine life. The early experiments of floating out and sinking derelict cars merely demonstrated the power of local storms and currents. A second attempt used ships that were no longer required. Some were vessels that would have been abandoned in deep water, but the activists persuaded people to sink them in shallower waters. Significant donations were floating harbours and the large cable ship known as the ''482''. These ships now create a haven for marine life and are a destination for thousands of divers ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
