The Osborne Tire Reef is an artificially created reef off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is constructed using concrete dolos or concrete shaped like ‘jacks.’ Still popular today with divers, this artificial reef comprises the wreckage of an old 60-foot barge, tires, and concrete erojacks or dolos.
The reason for creating artificial reefs in this area is that Boward County has a narrow, low reef system that provides minimal marine habitat. So, many structures have been sunk or built in the region to increase the fish population and offer havens for aquatic life and coral growth. Resulting in fantastic dive sites with over 112 dive sites and around 40 freighters, tugboats, and barges between 60-200 feet of water.
However, the history of building the Osborne Tire Reef has been plagued by ups and downs. It’s been praised and criticized by environmentalists since the 70’s.
What is BARINC?
In 1972, BARINC or Boward Artificial Reef Inc, which had successfully created artificial reefs in several countries with the support of the US Army Corps of Engineers, deposited over two million tires. It is bound by steel clips over 36 acres of the ocean floor at a depth of 65 feet underwater.
The project was a disaster! Very little marine life migrated to the artificial reef, and those that did didn’t stay long. The steel clips and nylon ropes that bound together the tires failed over time, resulting in the tires drifting away with the slightest of swells and getting washed up on the beach or dragged away into the ocean. The two million tires floating around were an environmental disaster. They would smash into existing coral and litter beaches, and environmentalists were concerned that the tires were toxic, causing more harm than good. Hurricanes would deposit tires as far away as North Carolina beaches, resulting in severe concerns.
In 2001 and 2002, attempts were made to begin the long and arduous process of tire removal and retrieval, which resulted in several millions being spent and not much success. In 2007, the US Military took up the project to remove the rouge tires. It used the opportunity to train recovery divers in the process. Thereby reducing the estimated cost of $30 million to $2 million for the project. Divers extract about 1,000 tires from Osborne Reef daily and are expected to continue for the next three to five years. Their goal is to remove about 700,000 of the two million tires from the reef.
