Oil Patch Bits: Global, saving coral reefs — one shipwreck at a time

Global Diving & Salvage Inc. said that in the summer of 1991, a 121-foot long Taiwanese long line fishing vessel, the HUI FENG #1, ran aground on an atoll in the middle of the Pacific. With a footprint of just 4.6 square miles Palmyra Atoll forms the most northern vegetated island in the Northern Line Islands, lying some 1,000 miles south of Honolulu. The atoll has a long storied past and is now a national monument and wildlife refuge, cooperatively managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy.

In September of 2012, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service issued an RFP for the removal of the two wrecks from Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef. Global Diving & Salvage reached out to Curtin Maritime, frequent partners in unique and challenging projects, to collaborate on this. Several factors were fundamental in the planning process: the safety of personnel and equipment, followed closely by mitigating the potential of further damage to the extremely delicate living coral and reef structure. Working together a creative plan was developed to remove the wreckage from the inner-tidal areas. Flat deck scows were designed and built with shallow draft to transit the debris across the coral reef areas to the main barge that provided logistical support and housing for the project.

In total, the combined crew of 12 worked 79 days with 880 hours spent underwater to cut, rig and remove over 970,000 pounds of steel and debris, as well as 605 gallons of hydrocarbons.