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The cleanup of the failed Osborne Reef is scheduled to begin again in 2012. |
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In the January 2010 issue, Aquarium Fish International ran a story about the Osborne Reef, an artificial reef created from 2 million tires off the Florida coast in 1972. It was supposed to enhance fish populations in the area, but storms and currents blew the tires around, and few organisms attached to the tires. It became a hazard to the nearby natural reef, so cleanup began in 2007. Since the story in January, the rest of the cleanup has been postponed.
Because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the earthquake in Haiti, the Army and Navy crews that were helping out with the cleanup won’t be able to return this summer (cleanup can only be done on calm summer days). They hope to begin again in 2012, provided the current schedule for withdrawing troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Although only $246,000 of the $2 million Florida has allocated for the project has been spent, the state can’t do it alone — it is likely that the rest of the money would be gone within a month without the military’s help. The goal for this summer was to remove 50,000 tires. Only 10 percent of the tires have been removed so far.