I am trying to get something going regarding the tire reef off Fort Lauderdale....

[Former FLL Now MSP Diver]

I'm up for it. I'd like to see what the response is from Robin Sherman. Bundling up loose tires to get them ready for removal sounds like a good way to contribute.

I don't think we'd do much of a dent in pulling them out ourselves. Quoting the article "In the waters off Fort Lauderdale, just past the second reef, lies a bizarre graveyard of discarded tires. An estimated 2 million of them are scattered over 35 acres of ocean floor, dumped there in the early 1970s in an attempt to create an artificial reef."

That's a lot of hauling.

Marc

 

[showboat]

Robin Sherman and am also waiting for a reply and hopefully we can all get in on the action. 500 down and 1,999,500 to go :boom:

 

[MantaRey]

weigh down some lift bags with chains or something, run rope through alot of tires. and cut the chains to lift them up. about bringing back so many tires, try getting money together to get a barge or something. but that would probably be too much, it would take days.

FAU has a really nice ocean engineering program, maybe they could come up with ideas. it would be worth contacting them.

maybe I could film that event and get it to air. it's always good to see divers helping, especially since people seem to think that we destroy the reefs or something (finding nemo) heh

 

[MikeJacobs]

Anybody want to go take a look on Saturday?

 

[Wendy]

This sounds like you have good intentions to clean up the ocean and to protect the reef, but how much thought are you guys putting in this? Where are you going to put the tires after you gather them? I doubt they can be recycled in any way cuz of the amount of time they have been in the salt water. Are you going to put them in a land fill? That's just more garbage on the shore then. And what about the marine life that HAS made a home amoungest the tires...are you going to relocate them? What if some rare specis of marine life has for some reason made a home there? You could be destroying an entire eco system. Maybe a better approach to this would be to just remove the tires that have wondered over to the reefs and are threatening them. These tires have been down there for 30 years roughly, is this the first time they have been brought up? Has anyone done any research to see if others have tried to do what you guys are planning?

 

[Marvel]

Wendy once bubbled...
This sounds like you have good intentions to clean up the ocean and to protect the reef, but how much thought are you guys putting in this?

Now that you mention it, it *does* sound like some of us want to actually get dirty... not gonna happen folks. I'd like to do a dive trip out there to see it, but you'd have to be narc'd pretty good to even consider making a dent in the reef.

So... lets go see it already!

 

[MikeJacobs]

Sorry, that last one was from Mike, not Marvel...

Marvel once bubbled...

Now that you mention it, it *does* sound like some of us want to actually get dirty... not gonna happen folks. I'd like to do a dive trip out there to see it, but you'd have to be narc'd pretty good to even consider making a dent in the reef.

So... lets go see it already!

 

[showboat]

I just got a reply from Robin Sherman and below is what he has wrote to me. From what I know Oceanwatch is trying to get funding for this project and will take many years to clean up tire heaven.


I'm not sure why Oceanwatch is still running information on that project. The project that I headed ended two years ago. I will get in touch with Lisa Weatherington about pulling the project from the newsletter.

 

[MantaRey]

the tires can still be recycled. the reason why they thought they would make good artificialy reefs is because it takes a real long time for them to break down.

it's not the first time anyone has thought about this. along southeast coast of US there are quite a few of these failed reefs. I read that in some states fisherman were paid to raise them up. alot of people only see and think about how good artificial reefs are, which they are, but you have to realize that getting to where we are there were alot more failed attempts. many of which proved to be more hazardous than helpful. one example would be this one.

and nothing could live among the tires. they are too unstable for anything to make a permanent home on them. except maybe algae. so far the only good materials for making artificial reef is still only steel and concrete.

Wendy once bubbled...
This sounds like you have good intentions to clean up the ocean and to protect the reef, but how much thought are you guys putting in this? Where are you going to put the tires after you gather them? I doubt they can be recycled in any way cuz of the amount of time they have been in the salt water. Are you going to put them in a land fill? That's just more garbage on the shore then. And what about the marine life that HAS made a home amoungest the tires...are you going to relocate them? What if some rare specis of marine life has for some reason made a home there? You could be destroying an entire eco system. Maybe a better approach to this would be to just remove the tires that have wondered over to the reefs and are threatening them. These tires have been down there for 30 years roughly, is this the first time they have been brought up? Has anyone done any research to see if others have tried to do what you guys are planning?

 

[Former FLL Now MSP Diver]

There was a follow-up editorial to the weekend story about teh tire reef in the Sun-Sentinel today.

Remove Tires From The Reef

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
Posted July 17 2003


As the old TV ad used to say, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." South Floridians are learning that painful truth as they cope with some unpleasant environmental consequences of a well-intentioned but failed effort decades ago to build an artificial reef using old auto tires.

An estimated 2 million tires were dumped off Fort Lauderdale beach in the early 1970s to try to create an artificial reef for fish and other undersea animals and plants. Over three decades, the tire reef has turned into a huge and harmful failure.

Studies show few sea creatures made their homes in, on or around the tires. Bundles of 10 tires strapped together broke apart under pounding by ocean currents and hurricanes. Individual tires scattered over 35 acres of ocean floor off Hugh Taylor Birch State Park at Sunrise Boulevard, sometimes bumping into natural reefs and dislodging corals, sponges and other living things.

Divers who visit the area say it looks like a hazardous waste dump.

State and Broward County environmental officials should look into various options for a possible cleanup:

One is simply to encourage regular tire removal campaigns by volunteers among environmental protection groups, boaters, fishermen and divers.

Another possibility is for state and local government to use tax dollars for incentives, paying people to haul up tires.

Finally, companies building gas pipelines in Broward and Palm Beach counties and Port Everglades officials planning to widen their main channel could be required to "mitigate" any reef damage they cause by hauling up tires.

Artificial reefs made of more substantial materials can be a valuable addition to the natural environment, but the tires have to go. What people have broken, people must fix.