Dive Brief:
- Hundreds of out-of-commission NYC subway cars have been tossed into the Atlantic as part of the “Artificial Reef Project.”
- The project involves using retired subway cars to try to re-establish coral reefs in the ocean.
- The cars are acquired from the NY transit authority, then stripped (all of the doors, windows, wheels, and interiors are removed). Cars are then thrown from a barge into the ocean by crane.
Dive Insight:
The process of using subway cars as replacement reefs has been going on for a decade. The project has deposited 2,500 cars into the ocean—and it seems to be working: The skeletons act as protective reefs for ocean dwellers and aquatic plants.
Other organizations are making similar attempts to re-build coastal reefs. The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana started a project that recycles oyster shells from restaurants in order to establish new coral reefs in the waterways of Louisiana. Maryland is also using discarded mollusk shells to create 1,600 acres of new reefs along its coastline.