Partners
The Sea Ranger Service has monitored protected shipwreck sites as maritime heritage in the North Sea since 2019. Working in direct partnership with the Dutch governmental Information and Heritage Inspectorate, Sea Rangers follow patrol routes and look for any activity that could disturb the precious heritage sites, including illegal salvaging of historical artefacts, unlicensed fishing, or anything else that might damage the sites and disturb the biodiversity that these wrecks support.
How do shipwrecks attract underwater wildlife?
Some forms of marine plant life prefer solid surfaces to grow on, including seaweeds, corals, and sponges, and so underwater wrecks provide the perfect environment for them. Different forms of plant life use the sunken structures in different ways. Corals such as Sea Pens for example, attach themselves to the structure of the wreck and extend their extended tissue, known as polyps, to capture plankton from the water, whereas sponges rely on the water moving through tiny pores to filter tiny organisms and plankton from the water, in order to give them nutrients.
Once such plant life has started to grow on wrecks, it creates a good environment to attract small underwater animals like fish, crustaceans, mussels and barnacles. In addition to providing food from plant life, the small, tight spaces that shipwrecks offer mean they make a good place to live, reproduce and shelter from larger predators. Crabs, lobsters and seahorses can often be found on wrecks in the North Sea too. Protecting ship wrecks ensures these small pockets of biodiversity in the sea, support ocean biodiversity overall.
The Sea Ranger Service expects to continue and expand its maritime heritage work over the coming years.