History of the "Michelin" reef off Ulua beach

[kidspot]

Just wondering if anyone knows the history of the "Michelin" reef around the St. Anthony off Ulua beach in Kihei? I've been told the tires were dropped there in the hopes of creating an artificial reef, then discovered that coral does not grow on rubber, so they stopped dumping them there... but anyone know when all this happened?

Were there similar "tire" reef projects around the US?

 

[sea nmf]

Tim,

I'm not sure if the tires were dumped to make a reef in Puget Sound, but there are certainly a few piles here and there. However, not being a temperate area, we don't expect coral.

The tires do make a few great hiding places for different critters, though, so much life can be found around the tire piles in Puget Sound. It isn't a good as something metal, but some critters seem to like them.

 

[j_spot]

when I dove with Mike Severns we were told that the tires were dumped there in hopes of creating an artificial reef. Cars were also dumped, but the thin sheet metal of the cars was easily destroyed by the saltwater. You can still see some axles around, but the tires lasted much better.

Not sure of the validity, but its what I was told.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Tire reefs were attempted in many locations around the US and the globe.

Here is a link to a web page talking about reefs proposed off New Jersey and Delaware with tires from Pennsylvania, probably a remnant web page from the '90's.

American Recycler

Some of the tires are collected whole and will be used to construct reefs off New Jersey and Delaware.

If you google or yahoo "tire reefs" you will see many pages devoted to the Fort Lauderdale disaster.

I prefer the Wikipedia page but am not saying it is the best.

Maui was fortunate in that the tires were "cemented" together in 8-10 tire bunches. In Florida they were chained together, but the chains eventually broke leaving millions of loose tires wandering about the bottom killing the adjacent reef.

Coral does grow on the tires, but when the coral head gets a little larger than a human head a winter swell easily knocks it off. The tire reef around the St. Anthony is a habitat for marine life, but it will always look like a tire dump!

 

[Charlie99]

Were there similar "tire" reef projects around the US?

There have been some disasterous attempts at tire reefs. A search on scubaboard should bring up a tire reef off of Ft. Lauderdale that has caused a lot of problems.

Unlike the Kihei reef where the tires are arranged in rows and embedded in concrete, in many other tire reef attempts the tires were either dumped loose, or just held together with wire rope that rusted away. The problem with the Ft Lauderdale tire reef is that that tires migrate over onto the real reef.

edit: Halemano beat me to it, complete with links.

 

[CaptFlyingDutchman]

Here is a video talking about other artificial program around Oahu

YouTube - State Creates Artificial Reef Off Kahala

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

I think the fish habitat is great but it would be nice to get more coral out there so the reef species would have more habitat. Here's a story of one many who is helping the Sumatran reef recover after the tsunami:

Coral reef replanting success for Sumatra island hit by tsunami - Telegraph

Looks easy to do...

Sean

 

[kidspot]

So ... anyone know what year they dropped all the tires around the St. Anthony?

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

"From 1985-1991 the program used concrete and tire modules as the main artificial reef components. Other items used included derelict concrete material, barges, and even large truck tires."

Artificial Reefs

Detailed Map:

http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar/pubs/ARKeawakapu.pdf