Bimini dive team to replace mooring balls

Divers in Bimini are set to replace a number of mooring balls in a bid to protect the island’s reefs from indiscriminate anchoring.

The group of divers, which will be made up from personnel from the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and Dive Bimini Team, are hoping to restore mooring balls at fifteen of Bimini’s best dive sites.

The team will look to find the missing underwater anchor pins and install the mooring buoys.

Neal Watson, one of Dive Bimini’s co-developers, said: “The original mooring balls were placed many years ago, mainly to serve the larger live-aboard dive vessels.

“Storms, time and neglect have taken their toll, and its time to restore the buoys in an effort to preserve Bimini’s delicate ecosystem, which makes our diving so unique.”

Underwater survey efforts have already commenced, with the expectation that the project will be completed by 1 April, in time for the summer diving season.

Guy Harvey, Dive Bimini’s other co-developer, added: “Projects such as this are central to the mission of the Ocean Foundation.

“Here we have an opportunity to target our financial resources to both the benefit of a local community, and a larger community of dive enthusiasts who come to Bimini from around the world to enjoy its unique character.”

Funding for the project has been supplied by the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation.