The Harry Atkinson Artificial Reef covers an area of 34ha and is located 7km east-south-east of St Helena Island.
This artificial reef was first established in 1975 when more than 17,000 old car tyres were deployed at the site over a five-year period. The site was added to in 1987 with 200 shopping trolleys, and some of this material is still present.
The enhancement of this site was undertaken as part of the artificial reef program and began in December 2008 with the deployment of 150sqm of quarried rock creating many shelter sites for small fish.
This was followed by a major extension of the reef with the scuttling of the Tiwi Pearl – a 24m, 96-tonne, ex-tuna fishing vessel – on March 12, 2010. The wreck is located in 21m of water and is standing perfectly upright on the seabed. The highest point of the wreck rises 12m from the seabed.
In August 2010, 450 tonnes of clean concrete pipe was deployed in four locations at the site. Each cluster consists of approximately 23 pipes of varying size, the height of each cluster ranges from 2.5- 6m above the sea floor. The pipes were kindly donated by Humes.
The latest addition to this site is a retired 26m, 60-tonne barge donated by Port of Brisbane and sunk in November 2014.
Some activities are prohibited at this site without a permit.
THE TIWI PEARL
The Tiwi Pearl is a 24.15m steel fishing vessel built in the mid-1960s at Mobile, Alabama in the US. It is 6.64m in maximum breadth and is about 12m from the keel to the highest point. It has a net/registered tonnage of 96 and gross tonnage of 157. There was a fire aboard the vessel, leading to its writeoff. The Tiwi Pearl’s large size and height attracts many species including bait fish, small tuna and mackerel.
THE SINKING
The vessel was sunk instead of using explosives.
Four 100mm diameter pipes have been welded to the hull, each with a butterfly valve – three placed in the main engine room compartment and one in the freezer compartment.
The old diesel, fresh water and live bait tanks were filled with sea water (85 tonnes) – sunk by flooding rather than explosives. The vessel was attached to a four-point anchor system – two lines forward and two at the back, held in place with 500kg clump weights, chain and wire rope.
- Enquiries to the Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing on 13 QGOV (13 74 68).
