By Caitlin Zant, ACUA Board Member
The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary (WSCNMS) is one of the new(ish) National Marine Sanctuaries designed in recent years. Designated in August 2021, WSCNMS provides stewardship for the nation’s maritime heritage in Lake Michigan. Stretching along Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan coastline along Manitowoc, Sheboygan, and Ozaukee Counties
Co-managed by NOAA and the state of Wisconsin, the sanctuary expands on the state’s 30-year management of these historic sites, bringing new opportunities for research, resource protection, and education. In partnership with local communities, the sanctuary provides a national stage for promoting recreation and heritage tourism. The 40+ historic shipwreck sites within the sanctuary represent vessels that played a central role in building the nation between the 1830s and 1930s. Thirty-one are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and research suggests that approximately another 60 shipwrecks may yet to be discovered.
The sanctuary’s primary goal is cultural resource protection of the over 40 historic shipwrecks that lie within its boundary. As the WSCNMS is located entirely within Wisconsin state waters, we work closely with our state partners to help monitor, documents, and protect these important sites. Over the past three years, WSCNMS has embarked on a mission to gather baseline information and documentation of all 40+ historic wreck sites for future monitoring and resource protection, primarily through archaeological assessments and 3D photogrammetry models. Between 2022 and 2023, baseline documentation has been gathered on 16 wreck sites, with another set of 7 to 10 site documentations planned for the upcoming field season.
Additionally, to help with site protection and promote save dive access, the sanctuary installed 19 mooring buoys and 5 marker buoys at wreck sites throughout the WSCNMS. These are intended to promote site access and responsible dive practices, while offering a safe mooring location, limiting potential damage from anchoring or grappling. In August 2024, aboard the USCG cutter SPAR, the WSCNMS and partners installed these buoys over the course of a few weeks. Each mooring system has an anchor made of two train wheels, installed 10 – 15 feet from the main wreckage. Additionally, each system has a subsurface buoy that remains in the water year-round, while a surface buoy is placed on site every June through early October.
WSCNMS activities aren’t just confined to the water. Over the last three years, the sanctuary has worked with its many partners on education initiatives and new exhibits throughout the region, including an annual, on-water education experience for students and educators that includes activities on shipwrecks, maritime archaeology, freshwater biology, and water quality.
The sanctuary also helped design a brand-new main exhibit at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, and smaller exhibits at other partnering institutions in Port Washington (Port Washington Historical Society – completed), Sheboygan (Visit Sheboygan – in progress), and Two Rivers (Rogers Street Fishing Village – to come).
WSCNMS has also been increasing its work with students for internships and research projects. Recently, WSCNMS had a scholar from the Nancy Foster Scholarship program, ACUA’s own past GSA member Allyson Ropp, doing research in the sanctuary. Over six weeks in July – August 2024, Allyson helped the sanctuary investigate shallow water wreck sites, sand movement, and water quality along a highly dynamic section of the sanctuary’s coastline (Rawley Point). Reports on Allyson’s work are coming soon!
Looking ahead, the WSCNMS is planning for the upcoming season, with multiple field projects and outreach events planned, including the first ever Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast International Film Festival, a deep-water shipwreck documentation project, and more!
Categorised in: Deep Thoughts