11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

24.1124
Is The Scale Of Your Coral Problem Resulting in Project Paralysis? Unusual
Partners May Be The Solution
William NUCKOLS III* 1
1 W.H. Nuckols Consulting, Annapolis, MD
In the 1970’s an artificial tire reef project of massive scale was placed in between the
second and third reef lines 2 km off the beaches in Ft. Lauderdale. As many as two
million tires were used during an artificial reef project that proposed to compliment the
adjacent living coral habitat. But good intentions resulted in an ecological disaster, as the
tires migrated toward land, denuding and smothering the middle reef. Mobilized by
hurricanes and other large storms, a central pile of 700,000 tires now covers over 34 acres
of seafloor. Coral resource managers had been unable to tackle the problem, due to a lack
of experience with large scale salvage projects and tire abatement efforts, and a lack of
the tens of millions of dollars estimated for the coral restoration. However in 2006 hopes
that the failed artificial reef could be removed were renewed. Coming to the table with a
wide range of skills, legal authorities and funding capabilities, a team began examining
how a solution to a 30-year old problem could be implemented, even with an almost
complete lack of funding for the effort. Military salvage assets, coral biologists and tire
abatement experts formed a team than spans three levels of government. While the
overall goal is the restoration of the reef, each agency comes to the project with its own
authority and resources. It is noteworthy that some key partners have no connection to
coral restoration at all, yet their contribution to the effort is crucial. Cooperation and
utilization of existing resources by similar teams is likely to become the dominant path to
solutions for of many of our yet unsolved large scale restoration problems.
Poster Mini-Symposium 24: Reef Restoration
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