THIRTY years ago, a cargo ship sprung a leak and was scuttled off Pulau Pinang in the Redang group of islands. It flattened the reef where it was grounded, but eventually it was cut up for scrap, leaving just the keel and a section of the stern in the water.
Today, these remnants of that ship are festooned with coral and thronged with fish, and actually form part of the boundary of the Marine Park Department’s house reef. Shipwrecks make great habitats for marine life, no doubt. So much so, there’s been a trend in recent years to deliberately sink scrapped ships for the express purpose of giving marine life new habitats and recreational divers new sites to visit. It’s been done in Malaysian waters — between Pulau Paya and Pulau Kaca off Kedah, midway between Langkawi and Penang, marine agencies sank three confiscated fishing boats some years ago. They’ve become popular dive sites.