Access rules for N.C. shipwrecks under review

HATTERAS

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is re-evaluating restrictions at the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, a sanctuary official said.

NOAA is also looking for public feedback on creating a much larger sanctuary that would include several World War II wrecks from the Battle of the Atlantic.

Divers have criticized the sanctuary rules, which prohibit anchoring, subsurface salvage, detonation of explosives, diving, seabed drilling and trawling.

David Alberg, sanctuary superintendent, said that concerns from divers about access limitations at the site will be addressed in an updated management plan that is expected to be completed early next year.

"One of the things we'll look at is removing all those restrictions," Alberg said.

Alberg said he would be looking for divers' input on whether other wrecks should be included as part of the proposed sanctuary, which wouldn't go forward without state support. The state has not taken a position.

"I think everybody would agree, yes, there are some wrecks out there that are historically significant," Alberg said at a meeting last week at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. But he assured divers that there are no plans to prevent access.

"We're not advocating shutting down any wrecks."

Designated as the nation's first national marine sanctuary in 1975, the Monitor's remains lay 230 feet under water about 16 miles off Hatteras. The sanctuary surrounds the wreck from the surface to the seabed in a column of water one nautical mile in diameter.

The Union ironclad, famed for its showdown with the Confederate Virginia, sank in 1862. It was discovered in 1973.

Removing restrictions doesn't mean that the ironclad is no longer worth preserving, Alberg said. Significant parts of the vessel, including the turret, have been recovered and taken to the Mariners' Museum in Newport News.

"The argument that the Monitor is gone is wrong. The Monitor is still a very valid site, a very valuable site."

In recent years, NOAA has turned its attention to other important wrecks off the coast. Of the thousands of them, many are German U-boats or U.S. Navy or merchant vessels lost in World War II.

Last summer, divers with NOAA and numerous partners conducted the first detailed archaeological survey of the U-85 off Nags Head, the U-701 off Avon and the U-352 off Morehead City.

Joe Hoyt, a maritime archaeologist for the sanctuary, said a soon-to-be-released report on the project will be used as a baseline for future explorations of the sites.

The research team plans another expedition in August, Alberg said. At the request of the British, the HMT Bedfordshire, an armed trawler sunk off Morehead City, will be surveyed. British sailors who were on that ship are buried at a cemetery on Ocracoke Island.

Alberg said the NOAA research vessel will also look for the U-576, sunk in deep water at an unspecified location off the Outer Banks, and the YP-389, a converted trawler Navy vessel that was sunk by the U-701 after a 1-1/2 -hour gun battle. Both are believed to have never been visited.

Aaron Harmon, a dive instructor and wreck diver from Angier, N.C., said that NOAA needs to clarify what qualifies as historically significant, what wrecks deserve protection, and how that can best be done while maintaining access for divers and fishermen.

Harmon said that North Carolina's wreck diving is considered the best in the world, with about 500 of the approximate 2,000 known wrecks off the coast dived on regularly.

But the diving community is suspicious of another layer of bureaucracy, he said. "Let's get real," he said. "We can't make the entire Atlantic Ocean a national marine sanctuary."

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com