Broward County says whoops !

"In the spring of 1972, a nonprofit group called Broward Artificial Reef, or BARINC, hatched an idea to build a three-mile reef while at the same time disposing of old tires. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers endorsed the project; similar ones had been created in the Northeast and Gulf of Mexico."

"But it didn't work."

 

"Metal clips holding the tires together corroded, and the tires spilled across the ocean floor."

top quote and the link take you to the article. but wow .. the amount of work to make that happen .. and jeez the amount of work to clean it up .. i bet thats going to be a good paying job !

Holy Cow!

That is completely insane. The photo and UW video at the link are mind-numbing. I can't imagine trying to clean that up - it seems almost impossible...

I dove the site once by mistake, and it is amazing what a wasteland it is. There is almost nothing alive there...

Holy Cow!

 

That is completely insane. The photo and UW video at the link are mind-numbing. I can't imagine trying to clean that up - it seems almost impossible...

From James's artificial reef rules - borrowed from the California Dept. of Fish and Game:

Reef Donation Material Must be Compatible w/ the Marine Environment

1) Reef Building Materials Must be Chemically Stable in the Marine Environment

2) Reef Building Materials Must be Physically Stable in the Marine Environment

Tires, used cars, etc - do not meet the above requirements :-(

James

I think they tried to meet those requirements by tagging them all together .. but they came undone ... it was stupid though ... I know we put lots of things in the water for artificial reefs, but normally there's about 3 boards you have to go through permision to get to even think about putting it down.

Looks like in this case a board set itself up and just did it.

Our concrete reef balls and the like are working very well over here. I should take some pics sometime and post them here.

You gotta wonder who thought that that tires, even chained together, would make a good reef. Single tires that I have seen underwater don't form good substrates even when they don't move. Besides, a much better use of old tires is to chop them up and use them for paving materials.