Bustling undersea city grows around sunken frigate

By DANIEL JACKSON

She sits proudly upright at a depth of 28m beneath the Pacific swell, but the veteran warship Waikato is far from lonely.

In waters which allow anywhere from 10 to 20m visibility, the old Royal New Zealand Navy frigate has found peace.

Just four days after being sent to the bottom off the coast of Tutukaka in Northland by a group of civic-minded citizens, the 113m vessel is being colonised by marine life as a shelter from the currents of the Pacific and a haven from the predators the ocean contains.

Divers too - more than 100 since the Waikato was sunk on Saturday - are finding the ship a delight.

Diving instructor and photographer Glenn Edney says the Waikato is a fantastic dive.

"It's created the underwater equivalent of a new city for marine life."

Dr Russell Babcock, senior lecturer at the University of Auckland's Leigh Marine Laboratory, said that the wreck would act like a magnet to fish and marine life.

Algae, crustaceans, anemones, sponges and other forms of life would cover the hull, cabins and deck.

Fish, including goby, yellow tail, trevally and others, would also be attracted to the shelter of the ship and theeasy meals it would provide, he said.

The odd moray eel might call it home, too.

"There will be quite a diverse range of life there eventually," Dr Babcock said.

Tutukaka Coast Promotions Society project manager Jeroen Jongejans said his group's sinking of the frigate had attracted worldwide interest.

He had received calls from Britain, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia and Czechoslovakia.

Television footage had been shown on numerous international news programmes, including the BBC.

"Literally millions of people witnessed it worldwide ... We're stoked."

The sinking of a frigate in Australia attracted 8000 extra divers a year to the surrounding area.

Mr Jongejans hopes that the same will happen at Tutukaka.

He said that the extra divers attracted by the Waikato, combined with the 13,000 to 15,000 who dive on the nearby wreck of the Tui and at the Poor Knights marine reserve, could mean up to 20 new jobs in related industries and be worth $2 million a year to local businesses.