ROSARITO — Six years of hard work, lobbying and passion for the sea have finally given way to the Rosarito Underwater Park, or Parque Sumarino
Rosarito, a project that includes both the sinking of an old Mexican Navy battle ship and several other investments meant to attract diving tourism to
Baja California.
Officially unveiled to citizens, businessmen, government officials and the media , the project is the brainchild of engineer Francisco Ussel, the
first of its kind in Mexico. Its creation is meat to help in the conservation of marine species while at the same time, building a new type tourism
venue off the coast of Baja California, with hopes of having 100,000 visitors each year.
Ussel explained that 70% of the world's oxygen supply is produced in the oceans, highlighting the importance of maintaining it in optimal conditions.
This artificial reef will provide a protected area for marine species to reproduce in. He also presented a video explaining the benefits of the
Underwater Park and the artificial reef.
The Uribe 121
The Park will be created by sinking a decommissioned Uribe-class patrol boat, Uribe 121,donated by the Mexican Navy. The ship was based in Manzanillo
and is being towed to Baja, scheduled to arrive Sunday. Once it reaches the the Port of Ensenada, it will be cleaned to minimize damage to the
environment.
There will also be some modifications to benefit divers, such as lighting, removing doors, more orifices, and other changes to the structure.
Organizers are confident of the park's success, especially with more than 20 million certified divers worldwide. All they need are 0.5 percent of them
visiting the region in order to mark the project as a success. Each diver invests double of what a golf player does in his or her activities, which is
why the Rosarito Underwater Park will also generate resources for the state, besides supporting other areas in tourism, like hotel occupancy and
nearby restaurants.
The Underwater Park will also help scientific research in the region, with major involvement expected from the Ensenada Scientific Research and Higher
Education Center, or CICESE. The Baja California Divers Association was in charge of exploring the coast for preliminary studies and its work has been
essential for making the project a reality.
Silvano Abarca, mayor of Rosarito Beach, noted that with the creation of the Underwater Park, the region's economic and tourism offerings will be
strengthened and increased. Stressing also that the community's initiative lined-up with the city's vision of a clean, beautiful and secure Rosarito.
Pedro Ramírez Campuzano, one of the project's benefactors and a local businessman, talked about how the project will bring scientific, environmental
and economic benefits for Rosarito and Baja California.
Óscar Escobedo Carignan, Baja California State tourism Minister, highlighted the creation of the Underwater Park as a way to add value to the state's
tourism industry, allowing it to compete at the international level with similar regions, including the U.S. There is also an opportunity for those
who weren't aware of the richness of the marine wildlife from Rosarito to Coronado.
The park will follow all international guidelines and will be the first to achieve it in all of Mexico. There are plans to add other ships and even
sculptures to the Park, similar to one off Cancun's coast.
During the presentation, invitees were also witness to the official signing of the charter for the Baja California Artificial Reefs Association, which
will be presided over by Francisco Ussel and in charge of maintaining and creating artificial reefs in the state.
The Rosarito Underwater Park is scheduled to open its (figuratively underwater) "doors" during 2014. For now, the project still needs 7 million pesos
(about $527,000 USD) for several activities related to sinking the ship and the environmental impact study.
The event was also attended by American diving enthusiast and some scientist who help consult the project team.Ateo - 2-9-2014 at 09:42 AM
Doesn't seem "major" to me, but what do I know? Maybe I should've posted in the Baja Diving and Snorkeling Forum.DENNIS - 2-9-2014 at 09:45 AM
The regional pacific coastline has an abundance of rocky outcrops, it does not need another 5,000 square feet of hard scape in form of trash. I think
artificial reefs are well intentioned but ultimately misguided and poorly conceived trash dumps. There are more effective things the developers could
do to heal the ocean.
The last one they built in mission beach, San Diego, was a failure, sank too deep, sank in wrong place, sank not according to plan. It is now an
attractive nuisance that has resulted in deaths of several inexperienced divers.willardguy - 2-9-2014 at 10:46 AM
I think its a great idea, everyone loves a good wreck dive, think La Paz's Salvatierra dive site and all the tourist's its brought to the areaKaceyJ - 2-9-2014 at 10:49 AM
I don't know Goat ,
Would it be a heap of trash if you piled up all the shrimp trawlers?DENNIS - 2-9-2014 at 11:34 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by mtgoat666
I think artificial reefs are well intentioned but ultimately misguided and poorly conceived trash dumps.
I think the idea behind this is to develop a tourist attraction rather than a healthy ocean.DENNIS - 2-9-2014 at 11:40 AM
From the article:
"This artificial reef will provide a protected area for marine species to reproduce in."
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Just wait till the lobster move in.....wessongroup - 2-9-2014 at 04:10 PM
"environmental impact study."
Would think that would have been first .... prior to anything
