PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH AN ARTIFICAL REEF AS A SCUBA DIVE SITE OFFSHORE AT BATEMANS BAY
Preamble:
The two major contributors to the Gross Regional Product of the Eurobodalla Shire are tourism and the aged care and its allied industries. Our largest industry is Tourism which has experienced steady decline in visitor spend and numbers for the past 8 years according to Tourism Research Australia data. Private and public tourism infrastructure has been identified by various studies as a solution to employment issues (RDA Skills Audit 2013), and increasing visitor spend (DNSW Eurobodalla LGA Assessment).
The Batemans Bay Business and Tourism Chamber has a vision to improve infrastructure in their region to enhance the tourist experience and to grow this market segment to invigorate commerce and address the severe unemployment rates, especially amongst our youth.
Overview
Batemans Bay is located on the Far South Coast of New South Wales, 150km from Canberra, the nation’s capital and 275km south of Sydney. Drive times are respectively, 1½ hours and 4 hours. Public transport access is by limited private bus services.
The proximity to such large populations and the pristine nature of the vast waterways is most attractive to tourism, especially water activities. However, there are a number of factors that inhibit growth in this sector. These are; a lack of quality accommodation, limited aquatic activities, ageing and absent infrastructure.
It has been identified that there is a need to promote the use of waterways to grow visitor numbers.
One market segment that currently provides limited activities is scuba diving, but which, is growing in numbers and has demonstrable economic gains where artificial dive sites have been established. Dive Tourism is a high yield market segment with both a high overnight visitor spend and return visitation.
Industry History
· The recently opened HMAS Canberra dive site in Victoria anticipates dive visits to grow by 7000 per annum. John Lawler (0414 922 916) is past president of the Victorian Artificial Reef organisation established to acquire a naval ship as a dive site. The total cost of the project as approximately $10M, but in John’s words, a vessel the size of a minesweeper will be considerably less. It took three years from establishment to job complete by the committee.
· HMAS Adelaide, was scuttled in 2010 at Avoca Beach NSW, which was attended by18000 people in over 600 vessels on the water:
The latest advice from Central Coast Tourism predicts that the Ex-HMAS Adelaide will provide a significant economic boost for the Central Coast by generating: $4.5M p.a. and approximately 5,000 diver visits per annum, with 90% coming from outside the region.
· The Sunshine Coast's dive wreck (the HMAS Brisbane) claims 40,000 tourist visits at the dive site every year.
· Queensland Scuba Diving Co Pty Ltd, located at Main Beach, Gold Coast has for the past 10 years endeavoured to interest the Gold Coast City Council in the installation of a Navy warship. The dive shop owner estimates the cost at $13M (which is considered excessive and probably the reason Council has resisted the proposal). Provided this venture proceeds, estimated income to the economy has been put at $12M pa.
·
In Batemans Bay, the recreational scuba dive tourism sector has experienced a chequered history. The sole business has been sold repeatedly with several operators experiencing fiscal failure. The current dive shop (Batemans Bay Dive Adventures) has been relocated to the industrial area and it is well presented with an impressive fit-out. Owner, Charlie Fitzgerald is keen to grow the industry to the extent of purchasing additional dive boats and he and his wife are enthusiastic advocates for a naval vessel dive site.
Current activities of Batemans Bay Dive Adventures attract over 700 scuba dive visitors per annum, the majority of which are from the ACT.
Proposal
It is proposed to acquire a mid-sized vessel, preferably as a donation. Two vessels that would be appropriate are a decommissioned Royal Australian Navy Minesweeper or one of the Sydney Harbour Ferry’s due for replacement in 2017.
Budget
1. Minesweeper. The cost of readying this type of vessel will be the most expensive of the two. The estimated cost is $2.0M.*
2. Ferry. Estimated costs $1.0M.*
*Cost based on donation of vessel.
The costs associated with the creation of a dive site vessel include; stripping of all material hostile to the environment, sealing all hazardous areas, shipping, wharfage, towing and scuttling costs. There are bound to be unforeseen expenses.
Proposed Site
Reference to and guidance from Batemans Bay Dive Adventures recommends a site as set out on the Batemans Marine Reserve Chart.
The proposed dive site is contained within the boundary of Tollgate Sanctuary Zone for ease of navigation to the wreck. It is near ‘Black Rock’ and in very close proximity to other dive attractions, namely: The Bubble Cave, The Tunnel, The Maze and The Chimney. This proposed grouping will make a more attractive activity for divers.
The depth is 22 to 26 metres which represents an easy dive and will also be attractive to ‘free’ divers. The site is on relatively level ground with an western escarpment and an easterly drop-off.
The site is in near proximity to the Grey Nurse areas of the Tollgate Islands, another popular dive site.
Extract from Sydney based scuba diver Web Site - Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving
While Sydney does not have wrecks of the quality of theSSPresident Coolidgein Vanuatu or the intactness ofChuuk Lagoon, there are almost 30 wrecks located off the coast that are well worth diving. They vary from the scuttled wrecks of Long Reef to the fantastic historic wrecks off Royal National Park. Unless stated, all the wrecks are boat dives. While many, if not most, of the wrecks are out of the reach of the average diver due to depth and location, you can certainly experience the thrill of the shallower wrecks while gaining experience and training to enable you to dive the deeper wrecks. More than anything, experience in diving will enable you to dive the deeper wrecks.
Note: The above article lists details of the wrecks which are mostly very small and in poor condition. It can be concluded that a substantial wreck in the pristine and relatively shallow depths off Batemans Bay will be popular with Sydney based divers.
By example, the HMAS Canberra, sunk off the Melbourne coast in 2009 cost around $1m to prepare the ship for sinking which included contaminate removal and donation.
An influential world wide web site that promotes dive sites globally is ‘DIVE.IN’. Principal Torban Lonne was contacted in regard to this proposal to judge the level of interest that might be generated among scuba divers worldwide. In our conversation he stated that the wreck site in itself would not attract overseas visitors, but it would be a ‘must-go-to’ site for international travellers would certainly include it in their itinerary.
A follow-up email from Torban is as follows:
Hi Charles,
You're most welcome.
Regarding costs of establishing and an actual economic benefit, I can not help you much. Only be stressing, that divers don't tend to travel on a budget and Australia is already a popular destination for divers. From my point of view, a wreck project is extremely interesting and would attract me. There are always interesting things to see on a wreck, and in the waters of Batemans Bay would quickly turn the ship into a sanctuary for marine life.
As for popularity, the USS Oriskany was sunk in 2010 and is today one of the most popular wrecks in the world. So, there's a good chance this will be a great success. It's just important that you get a lot of publicity around the project and the sinking etc.
I do see an increase in attention on diving in other places than Great Barrier Reef, examples like diving in Sydney(https://www.divein.com/australia/diving-sydney/) and this & places to dive in Australia (https://www.divein.com/australia/6-places-to-go-diving-in-australia/) is increasing in popularity. I'd say more and more divers are getting their eyes pointing on other dive spots in Australia.
Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.
Regards Torban
CONCLUSION
This proposal is for interim consideration while the Bateman Bay Business and Tourism Chamber continue to further research the acquisition of a suitable vessel and progress procedures to implement the proposal.