Gandulla stated that the mooring buoys are the sanctuary’s “most important resource protection effort because it encourages accessibility to these sites, but also makes them safer to visit.”

She explained that the mooring buoys are attached to anchors and placed nearby shipwrecks in the sanctuary. There is a tagline that allows divers to tie to their boat so they don’t have to drop anchor and potentially damage the wreck.

In the spring, divers manually install the buoys within the sanctuary waters, and in the fall, crews only have to pull them up from the water and onto boats, according to Gandulla. She added that sanctuary personnel are currently in the process of cleaning and doing routine maintenance on the buoys so they are ready for the spring.

Gandulla explained that Myers and his crew have removed all but seven mooring buoys from the sanctuary.

News Photo by Kayla Wikaryasz On Friday, Stephanie Gandulla, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary resource protection coordinator, holds a tagline from one of the mooring buoys that was recently pulled from sanctuary waters.

“We don’t want to pull them out before people are done with them,” Gandulla said. “There’s a few more glass bottom boat trips, some people are still out snorkeling. A few, maybe, still diving. And so we want to leave those out until they’re done.”

Gandulla added that even when the buoys are removed, people are still allowed to visit the wrecks and dive if they so wish.

Myers explained that he works for TBNMS but is also employed with the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) based in Ann Arbor. Myers coordinates the mooring buoy program and TBNMS, along with other GERL initiatives. Some of the work that GERL does is monitoring the health of the Great Lakes and contributing to an ongoing mapping effort to document shipwrecks.

Though Myers isn’t always out on the water dropping or pulling buoys, he said the work is fulfilling and gives him a variety of responsibilities in the sanctuary.

“I like it better than just driving a ferry back and forth between point A and point B,” Myers said. “It keeps it interesting.”

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.