Damage From US Navy Ship to Pristine Reef Far Worse Than Estimated

[unhappycamper]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/02/03



The U.S. Navy-contracted Malaysian tug Vos Apollo removes petroleum-based products and human wastewater from the mine countermeasure ship USS Guardian (MCM 5), which ran aground on the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea on Jan. 17.

Damage From US Navy Ship to Pristine Reef Far Worse Than Estimated
- Andrea Germanos, staff writer
Published on Sunday, February 3, 2013 by Common Dreams

With attempts to salvage a US Navy minesweeper stranded in a pristine coral reef in the Philippines not yet underway, reports indicate that the damage the grounding caused to the marine sanctuary is far worse than initially estimated.

The USS Guardian ran aground in the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, on Jan. 17 after ignoring warnings from park rangers, and has remained there battling waves and sparking environmental concerns since.

On Saturday, marine park manager Angelique Songco said that at least 4,000 square meters of coral reefs were damaged, four times worse than initial estimates.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Navy said the ship would be salvaged by dismantling it into pieces, effectively making the reef an industrial 'operating table,' after finding damage to the Guardian too extensive to be salvaged by lifting the whole ship by crane and taking it away.