The MV Shingle ship being sunk to create an artificial reef off Killala Bay, Ireland

A former smugglers’ ship, MV Shingle, has been sunk off the coast of County Mayo to form Ireland’s first artificial reef. The 60-metre vessel, which was seized by Irish authorities in 2014 after being intercepted with 32 million cigarettes and tonnes of tobacco aboard, was scuttled in Killala Bay on Wednesday (18 September).

The sinking aims to enhance marine biodiversity and boost tourism by attracting divers to Ireland’s west coast to explore the wreck site.

The MV Shingle was part of a Europe-wide cigarette smuggling operation when it was seized near the port of Drogheda. Since then, it had been berthed in Dublin Port and later New Ross, Co Wexford, costing the Irish Revenue around €2 million in fees, maintenance, and asbestos removal, according to the Irish Times. The vessel, rusting and no longer seaworthy, had proven difficult to sell or scrap.

The idea to sink the ship for environmental and tourism purposes was spearheaded by Killala Bay Ships 2 Reef, a campaign group led by Mayo County Councillor and seasoned diver Michael Loftus. Loftus said the project was a long time in the making, with planning beginning as early as 2008.

“Yes, getting to this stage has been a long, hard road,” he tells the Irish Times. “There were a lot of thorny issues to be dealt with over the years, a lot of bureaucracy. But thanks to the Revenue Commissioners, Mayo County Council, Sligo County Council and my own committee [Killala Bay Ships 2 Reef] we have got to this stage.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the ship was towed to its final resting place in Killala Bay, about 4km from shore. Its valves were opened, allowing water to flood in. It took about 90 minutes for the ship to sink to the seabed, 29 metres deep. Hundreds of spectators in nearby boats witnessed the process, with cheers and applause bursting out as the ship disappeared below the surface.

Loftus explains that the shallow depth of the wreck makes it accessible to both novice and experienced divers, unlike other wrecks around Ireland, which are too deep. “It’s going to be a magnet for fish life and a magnet for divers,” he says, predicting that colonisation of the wreck by different fish species will begin immediately.

The project was carried out in collaboration with the Revenue Commissioners and Mayo and Sligo County Councils, who hope the artificial reef will serve as a unique attraction along the Wild Atlantic Way.

Living seawalls

Living seawalls can improve marine health in urbanised environments. Image courtesy of Leah Wood.

Artifical solutions can help boost marine biodiversity. Last year, Irish pontoon manufacturer Inland and Coastal Marina Systems (ICMS) signed an agreement with Living Seawalls to be its production partner and supplier in the UK and Ireland.

A flagship programme of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science in collaboration with Reef Design Lab, Living Seawalls designs and produces innovative modular panels that it says mimic foreshore and inter-tidal habitats to revive the increasingly ‘urbanised’ oceans as construction ventures ever further into the sea. 

The three-dimensional tile-like concrete panels attach in a mosaic pattern, adding texture, shape and form to flat seawalls and other ocean-facing structures, which otherwise would lack the complexity required for a biodiverse marine environment.

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