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Underwater wonder
on
The Mexican government has paid an artist
to make 8,000 statues - all to be dumped
the sea bed. Why? In an attempt to
save an endangered coral reef off the coast at
Cancún, which suffers from repeated attack by
hurricanes and is therefore at risk and needs
protecting from anything which may further
damage it. The statues of human figures now
form the world's largest underwater sculpture
display, 10 metres below the sea surface, which
can be seen from boats passing above it. The
statues are made from a specially hard and
non-toxic form of clay. The first statues were
lowered in 2006 and the site was declared open
in 2009. The statues show human forms engaged
in day-to-day activities, such as watching TV and
driving a car. After being lowered to the sea
bed, they are covered with coral to encourage
growth. The aim is to tempt divers away from the
MesoAmerican or Manchones reef, the second
longest coral chain in the world, to prevent
further destruction to its delicate environment.
There are now 500 statues, created and sunk
over a period of 7 years by 38-year-old Jason
de Caires Taylor, a British-Guyanese artist. It has
been rated by National Geographic magazine
as a contemporary Wonder of the World. The
Cancún National Marine Park attracts 750,000
visitors annually. Taylor's target is to sink 8,000
statues in all; it will take several more years to
achieve the conservation project. Not all the
locals agree that this is a worthwhile endeavour,
and some are concerned that it will attract
even more divers to the area, many of whom
are inexperienced. They believe that instead of
protecting the environment, this artificial reef
will actually damage it further.