Noelle Barger, San Diego Oceans Foundation

Noelle Barger is operations manager for the San Diego Oceans Foundation (SDOF), a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting ocean stewardship through community-supported projects.

This morning, I heard an all-too-familiar voice on the answering machine. In a political, suave manner the voice said, "Noelle, this is Dave. I'm calling to get the Foundation's official position on the RAND report." Click. That was all the message said. I sat at my desk with a smile across my face because last week, my friend, Dave, did the exact same thing: "Noelle, this is Dave. I'm calling to get the Foundation's official position on the La Jolla Children's Pool." Click.

Since I am not on the Board of Directors, I will leave both those messages for one of the nine directors to answer. So, you're probably asking yourself what the RAND Corporation is and what they have to do with the San Diego Oceans Foundation. The RAND Corporation is a public policy research institution. MSCL, Inc. is a marine consulting firm that is currently assisting RAND to study ship disposal for the U.S. Navy. Together they will be identifying and evaluating all practical alternatives, including reefing, for disposing of nearly 400 naval vessels.

Dick Long, president of SDOF, has been working closely with RAND and MSCL. They have used our system of sinking ships as artificial reefs as a model to present to the Navy. Last year, SDOF purchased, cleaned, and sank a 366-foot ex-Canadian escort destroyer, the Yukon, off the coast of Mission Beach. Since the sinking, marine life has invaded the ship. The Yukon is now home to strawberry anemones, giant kelp, brittle stars, sponges, soft coral, blacksmith fish, calico bass, sheepshead, and so much more. It has become a garden of life.

Why would the U.S. Navy want to use our project as a model? Currently, there is a federal mandate to dismantle and dispose of more than 400 retired naval ships. It is exceedingly costly in terms of dollars -- the total cost of scrapping these ships would be more than $1.5 billion -- and the effect on the environment. However, there is hope. Through the success of Project Yukon, SDOF has developed a more cost-effective and environment-friendly plan. Our system, developed from a Canadian model, has proven that 1) the cost of preparing a ship for use as a reef is one-third the cost of scrapping, and 2) cleaning the ships, rather than scrapping them, can reduce the environmental impact. I would imagine that the sailors who went to sea on these now-obsolete vessels would rather give the ship a new life underwater than see it turned into razor blades. Dive Training magazine has several excellent articles in its January 2001 issue about the Yukon and artificial reefs. You can visit our website to view these articles.

For the past five or six months, SDOF has been campaigning for the sinking of these vessels as artificial reefs. On our website is a sample letter for those interested in sending a letter or email to their senators or representatives, stating their support for the conversion of ships to reefs. For anyone thinking that the sinking of ships is a threat to the environment, simply come to San Diego and dive on the Yukon. You will be amazed at the new life she is living!

Many of the emails I receive every day are from people who read about our project in a dive magazine and who want to learn more about our huge undertaking. Project Yukon began several years ago, when the Artificial Reef Society of British Columbia said they had a ship for us to bring to San Diego. Three years, $1.5 million, and 7,000 volunteer hours later, we have our ship.

The Yukon rests in 100 feet of water, 1.85 miles off San Diego's Mission Beach. She has become a world-class diving attraction, providing a new recreational asset for San Diegans and visitors to the area. The project also creates new opportunities for ocean awareness, education, and research. As I mentioned in Monday's diary, SDOF has recently implemented the first phase of our Artificial Reef Research Monitoring Project -- I will write more about that tomorrow. Volunteers are heading up the reef monitoring efforts, making the project even more valuable to San Diego because its citizens are carrying the load.

Still not convinced? Some of the toughest environmental standards in the world were used on the Yukon when preparing her for the sinking. All asbestos products, petroleum products, and other pollutants were removed. All salvageable items -- brass, copper, steel, and aluminum -- were removed and recycled. The ship was completely free of residue oils and contaminates.

Back to the message from Dave: As of right now, SDOF has no "official position" on the RAND report. Within the following weeks, the U.S. government will decide whether it considers reefing an option for ship disposal. One fact to keep in mind is that the cost of dry-docking an obsolete vessel in order to prevent it from sinking at the site is estimated to be about $900,000 per ship. These rustbuckets are in extremely poor condition. Karen Scanlon, one of our many volunteers, offers an example: "The ship, Export Challenger, which sits at the James River Reserve Fleet in Virginia, experienced a relatively minor release of oil in 1998. The deteriorated condition of its hull required that the remainder of the oil aboard be removed. The cost of the cleanup and oil removal: $1.3 million. Our tax dollars at work." It is scenarios like this one that show how cleaning and preparing a ship for reefing is a better option for getting polluted, obsolete ships off our waters and drydocks.

Until the RAND report is published next month, the fate of the 400 vessels and our tax dollars is still up in the air. Regardless of the outcome, SDOF is proud of what we have accomplished. We took on Project Yukon as part of our overall mission to promote ocean stewardship, and we will continue to tackle projects like these in the future.