In the solitude of the sea
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| Author keywords |
artificial reef, biodiversity, marine sanctuary, undersea museum, dive tourism, submersible, Titanic, dive trail, national park |
| Abstract |
When a ship is wrecked, it undergoes a physical transformation. It ceases to be the ship that it was; this occurs through the processes of sinking and coming to rest in the natural environment of its resting place, where chemical and physical forces change it, as well as its colonization by marine life, large and small. Shipwrecks are habitats for species that range from fish to bacteria, offering new perspectives on the proliferation and dispersal of life itself. Whether they rest in marine parks or sanctuaries, shipwrecks also have become the focus of tourism and decades of wreck diving to increasingly deeper wrecks, including submersibles. In addition to inspiring dives that test human endurance and courage, wrecks are increasingly seen as undersea museums by some. Others see them in their ruined state as romantic sites, attractions in their own right, like ruins of a castle, a fallen Greek temple, or an ancient city. Others recover them or their contents for display as museum objects, within museums on land. |
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