SS United States being sunk and deployed as an artificial reef

Welcome back, everybody. I'm Jen Frederick. This is Philadelphia Live. And this is the big story that we're covering today. The S.S. United States, which was docked here in the Philadelphia area for decades, is now off the coast of the panhandle of Florida. It's several miles away from the Destin Fort Walton Beach area in the Gulf. These are live images. We're watching this Because they are. Preparing to sink this ship. So what they're doing right now is they are moving people off of the ship. We know that there were people that we believe were like underwater welders on that ship just moments ago, carving out holes, if you will, that's a pedestrian way to say it, to make sure that water can flood in the hull. Remember, this ship was not built in 1950 and 1951 to sink. It was built to float. And now they're. You know, altering it in a way where it can sink down. We know that one of the reasons why the tourism group in this area of Florida wanted it is they want people to come and check it out. They want this ship to attract sea life. So we're going to reach out now to Alicia Longo. She's the collections, conservation and development coordinator at the Adventure Aquarium. Good afternoon to you. Hi, how are you? I'm great. You guys have to be excited about this as well. You know, I've been over to see you guys. I know you do a lot of work with coral reef preservation, which is different, obviously, than this artificial reef. But when you guys think about what's going to be happening down there, what are your thoughts? Yeah, artificial reefs are great, especially for wildlife conservation and habitat restoration. We know our coral reefs are in decline worldwide, especially down around the Florida region with the Florida Reef Tract. So placing these artificial reefs in and around that region and worldwide is a huge, huge, great conservation effort. So, you know, it's interesting because I have been like in the Keys and I've traveled to the reef track there. And again, you're hoping to see color in the water and you just don't, you know, because the reef is sick there. And we know that that's an issue when it comes to main land preservation. You need the reefs to protect the land. Am I right? I'm not a scientist. That's right. Okay. That's absolutely right. Yes. Will this reef, once it's down there and thriving and working, will it be able to do anything in terms of protection or is it just for like conserving the sea life and for people checking out what's happening under the water? Both. It obviously provides a lot of opportunity for diving and tourism and marine habitat restoration. But depending on where it's located along the coast, it can provide a lot of protection for coastal regions for storm surges and things like that. Artificial reefs can provide that. As we look at the live camera. I think you can see it on your zoom. What are you looking at? What are you? I mean, we were kind of seeing that we're still it looked like, you know, personnel on the ship as just a few moments ago. We now know that they are getting people off of the ship. You see the tugs are there. Sometimes they're called pilots because they pilot a ship into a specific location. When you're looking, what are you looking for when you see these live images? Well, it's looking like it's going to be a really great habitat. That's a huge ship. It's going to provide a lot of space for wildlife and recruitment of different marine invertebrates and eventually a lot of marine fishes. And it's going to be amazing. And it'll be definitely an iconic location. The images are kind of, you know, up and down right now. We know the weather is an issue. That's why it's actually happening today instead of tomorrow, because Because weather is moving in. And some of the live feeds, remember, they're several miles off the coast in the Gulf on a boat taking these images. So it's a little, you know, wambly. Why does sea life, why does fish, why do they like something like this? Is it just something for them to be interested in or is there something about a big structure underwater that they like? Yeah, so these structures, they mimic what a natural reef is providing for wildlife. So it's providing places for animals to settle, marine invertebrates that need hard surfaces to settle on, places to feed, places to breed, and places to seek refuge. So this ship is providing all of those criteria that's mimicking a natural reef. A house and security, that's what I heard. Are there certain types of sea life in that area that we, we've heard about some fish. They definitely say that, you know, marlin and tuna are going to be there, but I'm assuming there's sea life that's native to that area that they're hoping will really become more populated. Yeah, and that's the importance of bringing in artificial reefs like this is to really bolster and attract the native wildlife that in many different ways has been impacted by human activity and other reasons. But this is a great opportunity to really help. Native wildlife in this region. So there's going to be lots of different fish species, some recruitment of marine invertebrates and different corals that could even potentially recruit up that high, high up in the northern part of the Gulf region. So it's very exciting. Yeah, I think it bears repeating that this is kind of an up north water surface, right? Like, I think people think about Florida and they think about the Keys where it's really warm in the winter. I'm going to turn it over to you, Dr. . I'm actually from Florida. I travel to this region quite a bit. . . . I'm lucky enough I have a friend there. . . Fort Walton gets cold. It snows. It will be chilly there. . . . . So the sea life that we will see . . . in this part of the gulf looks . . a lot different than what we might see down by the keys. . . . . It can, yeah, it can look different down in the Keys. . . . There is a warm current that goes up there . . from the Caribbean. So there's potential for some . . . of the same species to be present in that area of . . the Gulf. But yes, it is a different ecosystem, a different habitat there. Do you know anything about what they're doing right there? It looks like there's still people in the ship. You can see it as well as me, right? So it looks like people, clearly they, I don't want to use the word, cut a hole. I'm going to say cut a hole. They cut some square looking holes and it does look like there has to be someone in there or some apparatus that's spraying water out. Yeah, I can't say for sure what they're doing there. Maybe providing some more areas for water to, you know, come in and sink the ship a little faster would be my guess. Will you have any of your team members that will go down there? I know that you have team members that do travel to the Keys and you, you know, brought some of the coral reef down there back up here because you were trying to grow it and save it and make it better. Doctorate, I guess, is a word. Will you have any... Teams that are planning to go to Destin or Fort Walton? We don't have any plans for that at this time. But yes, we are partners in the AZA Florida Reef Track Rescue Program or projects that does house native corals from down on the Florida Reef Track, which is a huge project with the Florida State and the AZA. It's a big conservation project that we're a part of. I tell my kids that you're coral babysitters, right? Because you see some of it and then you want to make sure that you can help it. You know, the thing when you do travel to that part and you see those natural corals, you're expecting to see bright orange salmon. And right now the color just isn't there. When we see coral in bright colors, what does that mean about its health? A brightly colored coral, you're not seeing a lot of white or bleaching that is indicative of a healthy coral and a healthy. reef system. It's those hard stony corals that we're focusing on when we're talking about the reef building species. And those are the species that have been affected by what's called the stony coral tissue loss disease down on the Florida reef track. So that's what we're monitoring down there and participating in this project to keep some healthy specimens here at our institution so that we can have those eventually to help outplant eventually if that's necessary. And any other project objectives that the project might have. All right. I'm looking at you and I'm listening to you and I'm also trying to see what's going on with this ship. You know, we were originally told that all of this would start at 2 p.m. And it would take about 45 minutes. Scuttle is the word that they use, but we're using the word. Yes, I think it we were told it would take about 45 minutes. It's now two thirty seven. And again, these are all live images. That's clearly a live drone that we're looking at. Just so you know. I would say within the hour, there were people standing on this shot where we see. So clearly those people have gotten off of the ship. It is tough to tell whether it is sinking. Oh, there's a gentleman. No, it's not sinking. Megan, she says, no, we've got three people looking at this camera at all times. I do. I do wonder if weather could be part of the issue. And it's interesting to see those tugs still up against that ship. I'm curious if they've got it tethered and they really want to bring it down. I know that one of the things that they were worried about, they were hoping to get it sunk upright. I'm assuming that's just for the visual. Is there any reason in terms of science why you need that ship upright? No, I'm not aware of any particular reason. I do know that the plans are to sink it upright. Right? You know, You know, it'll look just like a ship and when people go to visit it, they'll be able to recognize this, you know, iconic vessel. But that would be my guess. We want to know that the Adventure Aquarium is a great spot. Alicia's our girl. Thank you for checking in. We're going to give you a break. We're going to go to a break. We might come back to you. So don't run out to lunch or anything like that. We might have more questions, but we appreciate your help. And we, I like to have a partner watching really a piece of history with us. So thank you. Absolutely. And a piece of Philadelphia history too. Bingo.