Galapagos Tanker Wreckage Will Become Artificial Reef

PUERTO BAQUERIZO MORENO, Galapagos Islands —  The stricken oil tanker that fouled the Galapagos Islands cannot be moved and will become an artificial reef, the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday.

The Ecuadorean navy had hoped to clear the partly submerged Jessica from the tiny harbor of San Cristobal Island, where it ran aground Jan. 16, leaking the bulk of its 240,000 gallons of cargo into the archipelago’s pristine waters.

While the wreck may be an eyesore in the prophetically named “Shipwreck Bay,” in time it will become an artificial reef and a new habitat for marine life, Coast Guard salvage chief Ed Stanton said.

“Seals will start living on it, birds will begin perching on it. It has already attracted fish,” Stanton said. “Over time it will become a terrific place to dive.”

The Navy abandoned efforts to move the stricken tanker because it did not have the necessary equipment and the hull was in poor condition. Stanton forecast that Pacific Ocean waves would erode it from view within two years.

The spilled oil and chemical dispersants have nearly all been washed out to sea--there was only a thin sheen of oil around the boat--so the ecological urgency to move it is gone, he added.