We have been helping nature out, by dumping. Does this sound hard to believe? It isn't. We dump all sorts of things into the ocean. The dumping has a purpose however, it is to build reefs. Can you imagine what is down there by now? It is a shame that things don't last after the salt water hits them, because if they did people in the distant future might get quite a good look at what our society was like. Can you imagine what you might find down there? I just read an article on how we sunk an old aircraft carrier to form the biggest man made reef. Those sea creatures must love what we are doing. The problem with sinking a ship the size of a carrier is preparing it for dumping or sinking, whatever you like to call it. Yes that's right, you can't just sink it, you have to get rid of all toxic materials it might contain first. In the case of the carrier they had to remove all asbestos and other toxic materials form the ship and scrape off all the paint. It cost the U.S. government over eight million dollars just to prepare the ship for sinking. It is kind of bizarre in a way, when you think of it because of all the ships that were and are sunk because of accidents and war. None of these have ever been prepared to be sunk.

Many different types of material can be used to form a reef, it seems that our little sea creature buddies are not very particular. South Carolina's Department of Natural Resources decided they wanted to create a reef in Saint Helena Sound. They got themselves some cement blocks, 270 to be precise, and dumped them into the sound. A representative from the department commented that it would take several months before the blocks would start to make a noticeable difference. I guess you couldn't exactly call this reef making in the purest instance since the blocks are scattered over a large area and not all piled in one spot to create a large reef. In this case we are sort of creating mini reefs. This project cost $35,000.

Flamed Box Crab at Gray's Reef
Photo Source: NOAA

Sometimes artificial reefs are built by divers under the water, instead of dropping things overboard. An example of this is the work that is going on at Mount Maunganui, in New Zealand. Divers are pumping up geo-textile bags that will form part of a new artificial reef. The reef is being built about 175 feet off the shore. The reef is expected to change the effects of the swell. Things don't always go smoothly though when you are working on a project and this project was no exception. The barge that was being used to pump up the bags grounded itself and has to be repaired. Oh well, maybe they should have just dumped like everyone else.

Scientists have wondered how exactly nature constructs reefs, especially in shifting sands. The answer to this question came in 2001, quite by accident, when a camera that was set up near an aquarium caught a worm gathering lumps of coral for its home. This little critter was actually helping to build a reef, but probably didn't even know it. The scientists first noticed that coral was moving in the bottom of the aquarium from one day to the next. They even moved it back and planted it, but again on the next day it was moved. The worm had apparently been very busy.

Bournemouth, in the United Kingdom, is trying to become the first place in Europe to build an artificial reef. It is hard to believe that no other European country has built a reef yet, but there you are, that is what they say. Things seemed to be going smoothly. The reef is described as a surf reef and the estimated cost is 800,000 pounds. The reef is to be the center of an area created for tourism. Let me add this aside, Scotland disputes the idea that this will be the first artificial reef and states that when it sunk the HMS Scylla, which was built in 1942 and sunk in 1992, it created the first artificial reef in Europe. Slug it out boys.

Reef Fish at Keywest Coral Reef
Photo Source: EPA

How about that New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority or MTA as they are lovingly know by all commuters? They found a way to get rid of old subway cars and build reefs at the same time. New Jersey has taken 650 of the cars to sink for themselves. They hope that reefs will form and this will stimulate the fish population. The MTA is famous for high rates, I wonder if they are going to charge the fish for living in the cars? Some say that the newer cars ought to be sunk also.

If one wants to find a lot of artificial reefs in one place, Ft. Lauderdale in Florida is a good place to start. There are about 34 of these reefs in the area. I couldn't resist finding out how they were created. Most of them were created by sinking ships, as you would expect, but there were other things that were sent to the bottom. One reef was created by sinking an oil platform along with its towers and legs. Another reef was created by sinking concrete jacks. It almost seems that you could throw almost anything that was substantial overboard and it might create a reef.

In one area a wooden dry dock was towed out and sunk to create a reef. Another thing that was sunk, that I though was very interesting, was a group of M-578 armored cranes. These vehicles look sort of like tanks. They have tank treads and the vehicle looks like a tank from the midsection down. From the midsection up it has a crane cabin and arm instead of turret and gun. Even some of the ships that were sunk to form reefs look unusual. A tanker barge was sunk in 1988. It is a strange looking ship that was sunk in only 75 feet of water. One barge was sunk that contained the wreckage of other ships. Some of the barges that were sunk were quite large. They looked like miniature aircraft carriers. A very large load of concrete slabs was dropped into the sea. How about this one? Do you know what pillboxes are? They are the concrete and steel enclosures that machine guns and light artillery are sometimes mounted in to protect them. They are quite heavy and substantial. It seems that some of these were dropped into the ocean by the parks service. You can see that there is quite an assortment of unusual items that have been used to make reefs. Originally, old tires were used, but it was found that they were not the best material for reef building. The reason for this is that they shifted during storms. The primary material for reef building became concrete, ships and barges, and other large, heavy objects.