Redbird Reef
Not all artificial reefs are formed from sunken ships, though in defense of former sea vessels size DOES matter. Quantity is another metric favoring undersea reef-building, and the Maryland Reef Initiative had such an opportunity fall into their lap in 2001. MARI proceeded to sink a total of 714 Redbird (R26–R36 World’s Fair series) New York City Subway cars, 86 retired tanks and armored personnel carriers, 8 tugboats and barges, and 3,000 tons of ballasted truck tires at a formerly bare ocean floor location 16 miles east of the Indian River Inlet in Delaware. (image via Sandman Design)
Osborne Reef
Not all artificial reef projects are successful in luring both marine life and recreational divers, though at least we’ve learned from our failures. One of the most notable missteps was the creation of Osborne Reef off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the early 1970s. More than two million tires bound into bunches with steel clips were dropped over a 36 acre (150,000 m2) site on the ocean floor approximately 7,000 feet (2,100 m) offshore and averaging 65 feet (20 m) in depth. Best intentions aside, the metal clips soon corroded and snapped leaving countless tires subject to the vicissitudes of sea currents and storm surges. Worst of all, the tires regularly smashed into nearby natural reefs and due to the shifting nature of the reef, very little sea life has taken hold. One might call this environmental catastrophe… reef-er madness! (image via Profil Pulau Tegal)

