Not Many People Know About This Artificial Reef In Florida... Or How It Went Horribly Wrong
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Victoria W
Author
With all of the shipwrecks to an underwater mausoleum (Neptune Memorial Reef), Florida has many artificial reefs that host ocean life and delight adventurous divers. Planned artificial reefs are extensively reviewed to judge their environmental impact before they ever hit the ocean floor, but that didn’t prevent this environmental disaster.
In the 1970s, plans were proposed for an artificial reef that would help bring more game fish to the waters of Broward County. As a side benefit, it would also dispose of millions of unwanted tires. Even though the idea sounds pretty dubious to us now, everyone initially had high hopes for the site. The Goodyear Blimp even dropped a gold tire at the site in an enthusiastic publicity stunt.
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Unfortunately, marine life found the tires inhospitable, and nothing seemed to be able to latch onto the reef. To make matters worse, the restraints used to hold the tires in place were easily corroded steel and nylon. The tires were then let loose, ensuring their uselessness and even damaging natural reefs. They can travel long distances in storms, and some of the tires that started out near Fort Lauderdale have been found as far away as North Carolina.
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The process of removal is slow and expensive. Beginning in 2007, military divers began work on the reef, which provided real-world training in salvage operations as well as an important public service. They have cleared hundreds of thousands of tires from affected areas. In 2015, The Florida Department of Environmental protection announced a two-year project to clear 90,000 tires from the site. Even with these efforts, over one million tires from the project still remain, posing a constant threat to our coastal environment.
This video shows the long and difficult process of removing the tires:
Did you know about the Osborne Reef? What do you think about this story?
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