If we build it, they will come

In 1972, the growing interests in scuba diving sites and the mountains of discarded tires that needed another home collided as an idea was born in the interest of ecology and economy. The well intentioned idea used about 2 million tires to create the world's largest artificial reef and create a new marine habitat and alternative dive sites. It has proven to be an ecological disaster.

On June 4 2007, Army and Navy Salvage Divers began work in a pilot project on Osborne Reef to try and determine how the approximately 36 acres of tires sunk there can be removed and disposed of properly as part of their annual training exercises. The reef was created about one mile off the shore of Ft Lauderdale FL with the formerly homeless tires being bound into bundles with steel and nylon. Over the years though, some of them have broken apart and storms have pushed them onto shore or against a nearby natural reef, blocking coral growth. The idea failed as well in that very little plant or coral growth has taken place on the tires although they have attracted fish in the community to move into the white-wall condos.

This is the start of a month long project intended to practice various salvage techniques and determine what type of equipment and people will be needed in the future years to complete the tire removal. Once they are brought to the surface, the tires are destined to meet a firey death in Georgia where they will be burned as fuel to create energy to run a paper recycling plant.

It would seem that building it didn't work out as it had been planned........ sealife must be a bit more picky about the housing they require or maybe it was just not the "in" neighborhood for them. In any event though, by 2010, the tires who have sought to serve in an ecologically beneficial manner, will finally be able to do so, just without the pretty fish as decor.