DIVERS were examining Bournemouth’s ailing surf reef on Tuesday in a bid investigate how much work needs to be done to it.

The Daily Echo told on Saturday how a large chunk of the reef at Boscombe had broken away.

Aerial footage of the reef taken on April 15 by Ollie Pennington of Bournemouth Helicopters

The council had already told surfers to keep away after revealing that “significant changes” had altered the structure of the reef.

Bournemouth Borough Council said the divers in the area were part of the investigation into those changes.

A statement from Tony Williams, executive director for environment and economy, said: “We said on March 31 that significant changes have altered the structure of the reef and that further investigation would be needed to provide more detail.

“Divers are reviewing the reef today as part of this further investigation.”

There was also a barge in the area to arrange buoys.

One of the reef’s critics, diver and photographer Chris Skone-Roberts, predicted the reef would not be fixed.

“We’re going to go round in circles now while the council says one thing and everybody else says another,” he said.

“But more and more dive reports are going to show how bad it is and more and more photographs are going to show how bad it is and we’re going to reach a stalemate.”

He added: “Why not split open the bags and consider turning it into a natural reef?”

He said a natural reef could become a habitat for marine life and would enable the town to market Boscombe as a “dive resort”.

“Otherwise, it’s going to be left as an Imax under the water,” he added.