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RE> "Big Wreck" (real - n... via Mail*Link(r) for
PowerTalk(tm)/QM
::sigh:: So much vitriol amongst what used to be such a nice neighborhood to
visit. Is it really necessary to be so condescending to people?
Re: the wreck debate
People should be comparing like things. The question about whether we should
leave wrecked cars alongside the road because they provide habitat to various
things is not the same as what most wreck divers do. Should we leave wrecked
cars alongside the road and allow anyone that wants to to remove a few pieces
of the car, leaving the rest of the hulk behind? That's more closely
analogous to what _most_ (but not all!) wreck divers do.
On the other side of the coin, yes wrecks may provide habitat for various
sessile and motile creatures. However, remember that this "habitat" would
not be there in the first place if it were not for the intrusion of man.
Removing part of it is not analogous to, say, removing coral -- the wreck
didn't grow there naturally!
Me, I'm a wreck diver. I enjoy wreck diving. I don't take anything from the
wreck, but admittedly not for any high principles. My main reason for not
removing things from the wreck is simply that it's not as much fun diving on
a wreck in which everything has been removed -- there's less to see. It
becomes, basically, a maze of twisty little passages - essentially a man-made
cave dive (except that it tends to be constructed of straight lines, unlike a
natural cave), and I'm not a cave diver (yet! *grin*).
Oh, one more argument that I've seen that's pro-removal is the fact that the
artifact would eventually rust/erode/electrolosize (sp?)/weather away and
then noone would see it. While this is true, let's compare the number that
would see it anno removal if it is removed and anno removal if it's not
removed (yeah, I know that's an oxymoron -- if you don't remove it, it can't
be anno removal). If you remove it, restore it, and keep it in your house,
how many people will see it? 1? 3? 10? maybe 20 at your dive club? How
many people would see it if it was left on the wreck? _Potentially_ (and I
admit that the number will not ever reach the potential) every diver that
dives that wreck before it erodes to whatever arbitrary level of
unrecognizability you wish to set. Which number is bigger? I don't know,
but I _suspect_ that the potential number of divers to the wreck is bigger
than the potential number of people that will see it in your home.
Admittedly, the Guaranteed number of people that will see it in your home is
larger than the guaranteed number of people that will see it if you leave it
on the wreck.
::Sigh:: how to balance the guaranteed with the potential...
(Note, I have absolutely no qualms about scientific investigators who remove
Just enough material to identify the wreck, when there is no other way to
identify it. Oh, and most of my wreck diving has been in the Atlantic along
wreck alley, so please noone tell me that I just don't understand how quickly
things deteriorate.)
Please insert many levels of disclaimer here.
-- Kevin --
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