Sixty clay amphorae were placed on Tuesday in the marine protected area of Larnaca in Voroklini, on the reef next to the LEF1 ship wreck to further enhance marine life around the reef.
On Tuesday morning, local officials, including the head of the Voroklini community council, went to the site in a boat, where divers placed the amphorae in such a way to attract various fish species that live in the area.
This action was carried out under the guidance of the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research and the support of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, with the aim of attracting and increasing the fish population as well as attracting even more diver interest.
Head of the Larnaka Tourism Board, Dinos Lefkaritis, expressed his satisfaction, that, after three years, this action was made possible, in a bid to enrich the various species of marine life but also to help tourism and diving tourism in particular.
He said that the new artificial reef of Larnaca was created on the initiative of the Tourism Board and Fisheries Department, with the support of local authorities, agencies and businesses of the city, in December 2019, when the 63-metre ship Elpida was sunken as well as the 15-metre boat LEF1, donated by Lefkaritis Bros Ltd. In addition to the 60 amphorae that were placed on Tuesday, another 30 will be placed at a later stage, he said, and noted that the amphorae are clay and do not contain any materials that may negatively affect marine life.
Fisheries Department official, Giorgos Payiatas, who is in charge of the artificial reefs areas, said that every action that contributes to the marine protected areas and especially in Larnaca, was “important”. “The Department of Fisheries has also used ceramics, amphorae in other areas and the results have been spectacular,” he said.
The reef where the two boats are located, is approximately one kilometre from the coast and at a depth of 13 metres. It hosts various types of marine life, and can be visited also by swimmers with a snorkel mask.
Source: Cyprus News Agency