Thousands of Anchors Missing

Need a few dozen (or more) spare anchors? Thousands of “orphaned” anchors went missing in the Gulf of Mexico during the cleanup operations surrounding the BP oil disaster. According to this article in the Wall Street Journal more than 30,000 anchors, ranging in weight from 20 to 70 pounds, were used to anchor oil containment booms, and up to 3500 may still be down there. One anchor manufacturer we contacted confirmed that there was a run on the purchase of Danforth-style anchors during the cleanup operations, and that the only two U.S. manufacturers of these models had to expand operations to keep up. The problem with leaving the remaining anchors on the bottom appears to be with regard to snagging commercial fishing gear. The article states that the Coast Guard is conducting experiments to determine how the anchors can be found and retrieved.