During the 1970s, between one and two million tires were put in the ocean off Broward County in an effort to create additional fish habitat. Over the years, many of the tires were mobilized by tropical storms and hurricanes, the movement of which caused damage to nearby existing coral reefs. The threat is serious, but the complexity and magnitude of the challenge of removing these tires has prevented any individual government agency from doing so.

The NOAA Marine Debris Program funded a reconnaissance project that was conducted in August, 2006. The scope of work for this project included the development of a potential strategy for removing and properly disposing of the tires. It was decided that a pilot program was needed to test diver retrieval productivity, loading and transportation methods, and tire processing and disposal. (more...)