ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996 TAG: 9608190070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH
SOURCE: Newport News Daily Press
A HOST OF tanks, missiles and other items will now attract plants, crustaceans and shellfish that provide food for fish. Two dozen old tanks, rocket launchers and armored personnel carriers will begin a new life as fishing reefs off the Virginia coast Sunday. A contractor for the U.S. Army is scheduled to push the old weapons off a barge in two places: Tower Reef, some 12 miles off Virginia Beach, and Parramore Reef, off Wachapreague on the Eastern Shore.
The Army has turned hundreds of outdated weapons into fishing reefs in recent years, but these will be the first in Virginia waters, said Wilford Kale, spokesman for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
The old weapons should attract plants, crustaceans and shellfish that provide food for fish. They have been gutted and cleaned and pose no threat to the environment, Kale said.
``As long as you clean them up and make them pristine, there's absolutely no problem putting them over,'' he said.
The barge was scheduled to leave a coastal weapon station in New Jersey Friday morning, said Lt. Col. Charles Harvey Jr., commander of the New Jersey Army National Guard unit that is preparing the weapons for their new mission. The barge was to drop 15 weapons off the coast of New Jersey on Friday. It is expected to drop another 26 off Maryland today before arriving in Virginia early Sunday morning, Harvey said.
The weapons are gathered from across the country at Fort Dix, N.J., where the National Guard unit cleans them and takes out just about everything that isn't steel. The Army dumped 325 pieces of equipment overboard last year, including 127 in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, Harvey said.
The Army could sell the weapons for scrap, but fishing reefs make more economic sense, Harvey said. The Army would get about $5,000 for a 60-ton tank, but must spend about $3,500 making sure it can't be used as a weapon, he said.The Army doesn't have to spend that money on the tanks that are dropped in the water.
At the same time, the weapons are expected to remain viable reefs for 100 to 150 years, generating $1million to $2million each in economic activity from recreational fishing, Harvey said.
The Army's equipment will not be alone on the ocean floor, Kale said. The state has used old boats, concrete blocks and other debris to create reefs, which quickly become popular fishing spots, he said. The same should be true with the tanks. ``The tanks in the past have done real well,'' Kale said. ``They provide fish a haven from predators. A hotel, if you will.''
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB