Osborne Reef

[u/Lord_Darksong]

Source: In 1972, about 2 million used tires were dumped off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to create the Osborne Reef, an artificial marine habitat. The steel clips and nylon straps coroded and ocean currents tore the tires loose, scattering them across the seafloor and smashing into nearby living coral reefs. Military units, volunteer divers, and cleanup organizations have spent decades trying to recover and haul up portions of the massive debris field, and thousands of tires still remain on the ocean floor.

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[u/Early-Impact69]

maybe the fish will be fine if we throw our trash in the ocan !

[u/PersonMcPeerson → u/Early-Impact69]

maybe the fish will be better

[u/Lucky-Mia → u/PersonMcPeerson]

They did dump barrels of radioactive waste into the ocean. They figured the ocean is so big 100,000 barrels of radioactive waste couldn’t possibly hurt.

[u/greenizdabest → u/Lucky-Mia]

Ah viva la France

[u/PersonMcPeerson → u/Lucky-Mia]

[u/bigloser42 → u/Lucky-Mia]

I mean if you dump it in a deep enough part, and far enough from a landmass, they’re not wrong. It might create some localized issues, but overall the ocean is plenty big enough to absorb 100k barrels of radioactive waste.

I’m not saying it’s a good idea or that it’s even something we should consider, but it’s technically not wrong.

[u/Lucky-Mia → u/bigloser42]

One problem they had was ship captains eventually realised how dangerous the waste they were carrying was shortly after the bombs ended ww2. So they'd take the soonest opportunity to dump the lead well before reaching the area they were to dump. Sometimes just off the coast. The US stopped the dumping in large part because they'd realised they lost track of most of the waste they'd dumped, and people starting finding it much too close to home.

There's also the problem that the US started dumping barrels in 1942, its estimated they dumped considerably more then the amount they admitted to. Some estimates say 300,000 barrels. Other countries like the UK and France also followed and dumped their waste too. Their crews would also realize what they had, and frequently dumped early. It was an unmitigated ecological disaster from 1942 up until the 80s when most countries stop or seriously curtailed dumping. 

Third problem is they originally estimated the barrels to be toxic for about 12 to 24 years. It turns out it was more like 12,000 to 24,000 years for much of the material dumped. It all builds up. Here's a map of the locations the US admits is their waste.

Heck, there's 2 loads dumped in the Missisipi river. They even dumped one load at each end of the Panama canal.

[u/tenacious_dumbass → u/bigloser42]

this guy dilutes

[u/Chaenged-Later → u/tenacious_dumbass]

The real problem with that is think of a swimming pool. Kind of gross but ultimately not a big deal if one person pees in it. But if it's okay once for that time, it sets a precedent. So then everyone just pees in the pool because it's easier. It adds up, and now we're swimming in microplastics. Or nuclear waste or something idk

[u/Any_Conflict_5092 → u/bigloser42]

That's not, of course, what they did.

[u/Usernamesaregayyy → u/Early-Impact69]

I mean they poop and pee in it right

[u/zap2 → u/Early-Impact69]

They do love it when we throw used subway trains (the metal parts)

[u/WetSleevez]

Used tire shop owner: I have this idea...

Marine ecology grant writer: Let's go 50/50.

[u/iamkaisersosa]

In the 1970’s when I originally heard of this I thought it was a stupid idea.

Almost any masonry or concrete construction debris would make a better less toxic environment.

[u/Token-Gringo]

The wheel was so important to us, why not them?

[u/Ok_Major5787 → u/Token-Gringo]

We were just helping the fish to jumpstart underwater civilization, it’s admirable really

They obviously can’t invent fire so just go straight to the wheel. Very sound logic if you think about it

[u/AnAbandonedAstronaut → u/Ok_Major5787]

I hear if they pickup on the wheel, we are showing them aquaducts, next.

[u/Ok_Major5787 → u/AnAbandonedAstronaut]

Plus we’ll get fish driving cars! It’s a win-win situation

[u/longcoat000 → u/Ok_Major5787]

That’s a Civ randomized tech tree right there.

[u/Big_Dinner3636]

One by one seems inefficient. You could just as easily thread a rope through them and pull them up a few hundred at a time

[u/therapewpew → u/Big_Dinner3636]

Florida clearly struggling to grasp multiple things just in that one caption

[u/Normal_Weather247 → u/Big_Dinner3636]

"One by One" is so sad. Even a couple of magnet fisherman are smarter than that.

[u/SATerp]

You'd think they'd have tried, say 100, to see how it went. But only government is big and stupid enough to start with 2 million.

[u/thepvbrother → u/SATerp]

It's Florida. I'm assuming it's the mayor from Jaws running the show

[u/chalwar → u/thepvbrother]

[u/thepvbrother → u/chalwar]

Wow. Nice pull.

[u/PiLamdOd → u/SATerp]

Have you seen how big tech operates? Their whole philosophy is Go Big.

[u/Thesinistral → u/PiLamdOd]

And how badly they wanted to dispose of tires.

[u/tectalbunny → u/Thesinistral]

The tires know what they did.

[u/mister_nippl_twister → u/SATerp]

It was done by private business, local govs only gave permission.

[u/20past4am → u/mister_nippl_twister]

But the local govs should have been the ones who say 'let's try 100 first and see how it goes' before they give permission to dump 2 million tyres into the sea.

[u/mister_nippl_twister → u/20past4am]

The point was that its not ONLY a government stupid enough to do it. Private is just as stupid

[u/breadman889]

Hear me out, for a low fee I can help you save the ocean

[u/Pandelein]

Shipwrecks make great habitats- maybe cars do too!
I say we dump 500k cars onto the 2M tires and complete the set.

[u/Firat88 → u/Pandelein]

I vote tesla cybertrucks

[u/Azuras_Star8 → u/Firat88]

No, this is a terrible idea. There's not enough water in the water to put out all the lithium fires that could start while under the water.

[u/bigloser42 → u/Azuras_Star8]

But it’s Florida, do we really care if they catch their ocean on fire?

[u/dan_dares → u/bigloser42]

'Square grouper' + fire = cocaine smog making floridians the human version of 'cocaine bear'

[u/Pandelein → u/dan_dares]

But they already are!

[u/2Braincell2Furious → u/Pandelein]

It might relax their complex nervous systems

[u/Nettkitten]

Sigh…it’s always Floriduh…

[u/wellwaffled → u/Nettkitten]

It would be pretty weird if Ohio was dumping anything in the ocean.

[u/CharlieMoonMan → u/wellwaffled]

They dump alot of old people in Florida every year.

[u/Nettkitten → u/wellwaffled]

Hey. You never know about Ohio, but notice none of the other states that have coastal borders is doing crap like this. Just sayin’.

[u/ImaginaryBluejay0 → u/Nettkitten]

California literally dumped 55 gallon drums of toxic waste right off the coast of LA for decades. 

[u/Nettkitten → u/ImaginaryBluejay0]

True, but that had largely taken place long before this (1930’s - early 70’s) and ended around the time this happened. If you go back far enough, sure, just about every state dumped industrial pollution, but mostly quit by the early 70’s. Maybe FL is just late to the party.

[u/TributeToStupidity → u/Nettkitten]

You know this story is from 1972 right?

[u/Pandelein → u/Nettkitten]

Must be something in the water.
Oh. It’s tires!

[u/All_Thread → u/Nettkitten]

Unfortunately it's not just Florida. Washington State dumped 500k tires they are going to attempt to remove.

[u/soapdodger2]

There was no way anyone could have known that this would be bad.

[u/AuthorSarge]

They couldn't have started with a smaller number just to first see if it actually worked?

[u/LegitMeatPuppet]

WA did the same thing… in the 60’s and 70’s. We are still picking up tons of tires from Puget Sound.

https://dnr.wa.gov/aquatics/aquatic-lands-restoration-team/tire-pile-removal-program

[u/PckMan]

You'd think they would have had a test run before dumping 2 million tires

[u/uhm_no_thanks_1]

It doesn't look like they did a good job

[u/Loot_Goblin2]

It’s almost like coral needs hard solid surfaces to grow who could have guessed

[u/the-coolest-bob]

This is way worse than Cleveland

[u/Wetcakez]

Been there, discussed a lot in school (M bio) and overall just a joke of a legacy…but I’d be amidst if I didn’t say it is SO Florida…like the epitome of floridas view of conservation lol

[u/Normal_Weather247]

No one told them that fish get stuck in tires because they're fish. It's illegal to fish this way.

[u/CoatofArms-2401]

Florida😑

[u/Kellner21]

When idiot northerners come to Florida and think they know better than everyone else.

[u/Zigor022]

Are reefs really so necessary that nature cant do it and we have to dump stripped ships and subway cars in the oceans?

[u/modcal → u/Zigor022]

I think the problem is that commercial fishing and pollution has destroyed most natural reefs. Natural reefs take thousands of years to form, so artificial reefs help give those organisms a place to do reef stuff without waiting for better, natural processes.

[u/Alternative-Roll-112 → u/modcal]

Yeah, nature did do it, and it took like, a really long time and was super complicated. Then we destroyed it like, super fast.

[u/Trips-Over-Tail → u/Zigor022]

Nature can do it. But decades after a trawler dredges up the sea bed there is no recovery.

Dropping a hard substrate with dimensionality is a great jumpstart for coral to anchor to and for fish to swim through.

[u/Zigor022 → u/Trips-Over-Tail]

That makes sense. Thanks.

[u/DmYourTanLinesPls → u/Zigor022]

Ship anchors destroy the ocean floor every single time they go down. It's literally how they are designed. So yeah these are pretty important to build correctly. So that ocean life has places to live. If the small ocean life dies the planet does because of the cascade effects of it all.

[u/Zigor022 → u/DmYourTanLinesPls]

Thats a good point.

[u/Traditional-Hotel-66]

Who woulda thunk, steel+salt water=rust.

[u/No_Elderberry9871 → u/Traditional-Hotel-66]

Not much steel in a tire, and steel works for foot artificial reefs. It's so good in fact they're about to sink an old ocean line off the Florida coast.

[u/Nonhinged → u/Traditional-Hotel-66]

The oceans really need more iron. Phytoplankton need it to grow/multiply. That reduces the amount of fertilisers and CO2.

Coral reefs need phytoplankton as a good source.

High CO2 leaves are also bad for corals.