Sea Animals Living in Containers

It is common knowledge that former ocean shipping containers are used as homes for people. But now there comes news that the containers are also being used as homes for sea animals.
Every year, up to 10,000 containers get lost at sea by accidentally falling overboard from a vessel. When this occurs, the containers typically stay in the water for a little while, and then eventually sink to the bottom of the ocean. It turns out that while the shipping container is on the surface of the ocean, it could potentially be used as an artificial reef for the sea animals. We all know that artificial reefs might have negative consequences for the ecosystem, but it appears that the containers are being used as a habitat for some animals.
A recent scientific paper just reported on this phenomenon. This research is the first of its kind. And the shipping fines that carriers have to pay when their containers fall over at sea funded the research. According to what the scientists discovered, there are scallops, worms and other animals living in a container that sits at the bottom of the sea near California. Other animals like fish, however, do no live there yet. These research results are considered to be mixed, as there hasn’t been enough to research about the issues of containers as sea animal habits. Still, it makes containers seem more important.