Abstract

As a result of 2 devastating category 5 hurricanes in 2017, Irma and Maria, the British Virgin Islands Non-Profit organization Beyond The Reef began recycling derelict vessels into artificial reef systems. To date they have created three substantial artificial reef areas, two being large ships and the third site containing three airplanes. All sites followed NOAA standards for scrubbing, decontaminating and sinking artificial reefs. In addition, all three sites had highly interactive sculpture artwork added onto them to increase attraction for scuba diving tourism. The Kodiak Queen had a large kraken built on top of it, the “Willy“ was turned into a pirate ship, and the “Sharkplane” airplanes were turned into sculpture of a bull shark, nurse shark and hammerhead shark to bring additional awareness to shark conservation. In addition to making a large splash in the news circuit and greatly adding to the British Virgin Islands appeal for dive tourism, the wrecks have all gone on to become Marine Protected areas. They are monitored every year for coral growth and species abundance with great success. Additionally, through an honor system it is asked that every scuba diver on the sites donate $5 as an admission fee. This money goes directly to funding swim programs for local children as that remains a safety issue within the BVI. The establishment of these artificial reefs has strengthened community engagement, scientific knowledge and further established eco-tourism for the BVI “Bue Economy” We would appreciate being given the chance to share our success story and hope for the future of artificial reefs with other islands while also learning from them.