Why the Navy wants to sink INS Cuddalore off Puducherry

CHENNAI: Barnacles on a ship aren’t a good thing. But let’s hope the INS Cuddalore gets covered in them quickly.

In a couple of months, the decommissioned minesweeper will be sunk in the waters 7km off the Puducherry coast to become India’s first underwater museum and barnacles are crucial to the success of the venture.

Algae and barnacles have to encrust the rusting remains of the 60-metre-long and 12-metre-wide vessel to encourage fish and other sea creatures to make the minesweeper their home. And these are what adventurous tourists snorkelling through will pay to see.

The steel in the ship will start corroding in a few weeks in the presence of oxygen in the water. Chemical compounds such as protein and polysaccharides will accumulate and form a film on the ship making its surface conducive for growth of microorganisms, plants, algae and bacteria. These in turn attract barnacles. Over a period, small fish will make the vessel their home and begin breeding.

The ecosystem will slowly grow as it will attract more marine animals like turtles and deep sea organisms like star fish and sea cucumbers. Eventually, it may attract big fish like tuna and predators like sharks.

The project is a joint effort by NGO PondyCan, two Chennai-based national laboratories — National Institute of Ocean Technology and National Centre for Coastal Research — and the Puducherry government. The project is awaiting clearance from the National Coastal Zone Management Authority and the state pollution control board.

Researchers in NIOT and NCCR studied the seabed off the Puducherry coast before zeroing in on the location and a detailed project report was prepared.

The report included results of the environmental impact assessment, navigational hazards, impact on the ship in adverse weather conditions and general wave activity in the area for the safety of tourists. “We studied the water quality and benthic organisms in a 500m radius to find the impact the ship may have. We chose the location as the seabed is sandy and water is calm beyond a certain depth,” said MV Ramanamurthy, NCCR director.

To plan the routes and trails into the ship, a team from Puducherry inspected the ship in Vizag. A few doors will be removed from the vessel to create a route for tourists to swim in and out of the ship on guided and unguided tours. Tourists wearing protective gear can reach the site on a boat and dive in to the depths to enjoy the marine ecosystem around the vessel. Those who cannot dive 26 metres can snorkel watching fish glide by a few metres below the surface of the sea.

Probir Banerjee of PondyCan said “The Navy will be involved in sinking the ship, as it would also be a training exercise for their personnel.”