**Partners for Research**

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), in partnership with National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Ocean
Exploration (OE), awarded a contract to C&C Technologies, Inc., a leader
in the field of marine geophysical surveys, to investigate the long-term
effects that artificial reef structures and the deep sea have on each
other.

This contract was awarded under the support of the National
Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP), with MMS providing \$350,000
towards research costs and OE providing 18 days of ship time, a deep
submergence Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), and personnel for the ship
and the ROV.

This study represents the first time that MMS and NOAA's OE have
partnered through NOPP. This collaborative effort is expected to provide
unprecedented insights into a number of topics, which include:

-   the potential for the long-term historic preservation of historic
    shipwrecks;

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   global oil spill issues relating to the ongoing disintegration of
    World War II shipwrecks;

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   the long-term fate of manmade objects on the deep seafloor and, in
    particular, their potential role as artificial reefs; and, finally,

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   using exploration to capture the public's imagination and
    appreciation of interdisciplinary oceanographic research.

Previously, C&C Technologies, Inc. was awarded a research grant from OE
to conduct archaeological investigations at the site of the German
submarine U-166, the fieldwork which was completed in October 2003. The
current study will build on this successful project by adding additional
sites and additional biological investigations. C&C Technologies, Inc.
will be joined by a team of world renowned scientists in the fields of
microbiology and marine invertebrate and vertebrates.

This team of scientists includes Dr. Roy Cullimore of Droycon
Bioconcepts, whose previous research includes microbial analyses of both
the Titanic and the Bismarck. Dr. Cullimore is joined by Dr. William
Schroeder, Senior Marine Scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab,
Alabama, and Dr. Thomas Shirley, Professor of Invertebrate Biology at
the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

**Research Environment**

The GOM is an ideal environment for the study of the long term
ecological role of artificial reef structures in deep water because of
the presence of a number of steel-hulled ships that were casualties of
World War II.

![](media/image2.png){width="2.7444444444444445in"
height="2.441666666666667in"}

The Interior of the conning tower of the WWII German submarine U-166.

Following the entry of the United States into the war in June 1941,
American shipping was no longer exempt from attack and, on May 4, 1942,
the 2,862-ton freighter Norlindo was sunk in the GOM. Moreover, nearly
every day in May a ship went down. Twenty-four German U-boats patrolled
in the GOM from April 1942 through December 1943, sinking 56 ships and
damaging 14. The GOM represents one of the greatest concentrations of
Allied ships lost to German\
U-boats anywhere in the world. These casualties include oil tankers,
cargo vessels, passenger ships, and fishing boats.

Eighteen shipwrecks, casualties of war, have subsequently been located
on the seafloor by the oil and gas industry, as a result of remote
sensing surveys required by MMS prior to oil and gas exploration and
development. Seven of these ships have been discovered on the approach
to the Mississippi River off the coast of Louisiana in water depths
ranging from 328 feet to 6,500 feet. The range of water depths, which
represent different ecological niches, and the fact that all of the
vessels were sunk within a few months of one another, provide a unique
opportunity to study the \"artificial reef effect\" in differing depths
over the course of 60 years.

**Research Objectives**

This study has two separate but equally important objectives: 1) an
archaeological and historical objective, and 2) a biological objective.
The first objective is to document seven shipwreck sites as historic
properties that are significant to American history. The second
objective is to approach the research from one basic question: \"Do
manmade artificial structures or objects, i.e., shipwrecks, function as
artificial reefs in deepwater?\" combined with four major goals:

1)  Characterize the environment at each site and determine the
    biological effects of the shipwreck at selected sites.

2)  Determine the extent of physical and biological modification of
    sediments through the activity of microbes in the immediate vicinity
    of the wreck sites compared to sediment conditions distant from the
    sites.

3)  Document the spatial homogeneity of concretions and other biofouling
    communities on the wreck.

4)  Evaluate motile fish and invertebrate associations with the
    microbially-induced concretions, hard pans, and any other growth
    forms.

![](media/image3.jpeg){width="2.7527777777777778in" height="3.1375in"}

Biologists will study the rusticles, which consume steel shipwrecks in
deep water. Rusticles are the byproducts of microbes that seem to thrive
on iron and are slowly destroying such wrecks as the RMS *Titanic*.

**Education Through Exploration**

Admiral James D. Watkins, Chairman, U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy has
said, \"*capitalize on ocean exploration as an inspirational education
tool.\"* To that end, this study also has a significant outreach and
education component. A video documentary explaining the project is being
overseen and produced by award-winning film maker Dr. Dennis Aig of the
PAST Foundation whose credits include *The Horse Whisperer* and *A River
Runs Through It*.

![](media/image4.png){width="1.1in"
height="1.0043307086614173in"}![](media/image5.jpeg){width="1.0in"
height="1.0in"}![](media/image6.jpeg){width="1.0098425196850394in"
height="1.0047244094488188in"}![](media/image7.png){width="2.4901574803149606in"
height="0.4098425196850394in"}