KEY POINTS:
A large bronze plaque which has sat on the ocean floor for nearly 20 years in memory of a missing diver is feared stolen and melted down.
The plaque was placed near the Northern Arch in the popular Poor Knights diving spot, about 25 minutes north of Whangarei, in memory of John Barrie Catton soon after he vanished while diving in August 1979.
The 26-year-old was at a reef north of the Northern Arch with two friends when he failed to return to the surface. His body was never found.
Friend Jaan Voot said Mr Catton was a very experienced diver and his loss was felt strongly throughout the diving community.
About three or four months after he disappeared, a group of divers decided to place a bronze plaque at the Northern Arch in memory of their lost friend.
That plaque has become a popular attraction for divers - until this year when regulars noticed that it was missing.
While there is no proof it was stolen, divers say there is little other explanation for its sudden disappearance.
Dive NZ magazine editor Dave Moran said the plaque was heavy and he doubted it had shifted or been carried away by the currents, especially given that it had not moved in nearly 20 years.
"It's 37m deep and it's in an area that doesn't really get knocked around by surf and currents. I doubt very much that it had moved, and if it had moved divers would have seen it."
Another option - that it had been removed for maintenance or cleaning - was also considered unlikely as someone within the diving community - which placed it there in the first place - would have heard.
Mr Voot, who used to dive frequently with Mr Catton, said the only other option was that someone had stolen it to sell as scrap metal.
"I'm absolutely flabbergasted. It had to be a diver that crowbarred it off [the seabed floor]. It just seems awful.
"It's a desecration really of a grave put there by a whole lot of people who loved the guy."
