Undersea Subway
Provided free by New York City, the iconic, maroon Redbird subway cars, once a favorite of graffiti writers, are being used to transform "a barren stretch of ocean floor into a bountiful oasis, carpeted in sea grasses, walled thick with blue mussels and sponges, and teeming with black sea bass and tautog."
While there may be short term benefit in Red Bird Reef and other similar projects, there are concerns about the long term effect of dumping any material into the ocean.
However, five subway cars sunk off Sea Girt in 1990 show no elevated signs of toxicity and only light corrosion. William C. Muir, an oceanographer with the Department of Environmental Protection said: ''The Sea Girt reef cars were covered with coral ... at the asbestos levels we are dealing with, we see absolutely no indication of a public or aquatic threat."
Sections of the World Trade Center may also be used to attract fish and remediate ocean ecosystems.
Photo by anarchosyn used via Creative Commons.
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- 4-28-08
- Morgan Maher's blog
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Not toxic? Maybe, but certainly immoral...
I think my subject header says it all. No way can this be "all right," and neither is the sinking of ships for the same ostensible purpose, to supposedly create artificial reefs. What a crock! Lipstick on the pig of throwing our garbage into the oceans.
I've also ridden on NYC subway cars: NO WAY is an old subway car not toxic, any more than an old toilet. It's certainly aesthetically toxic, and not hygienic in any way.It is NOT "all right." It's vandalism, and self-deceptive at that. If you lived down there (and billions of organisms do), you'd call it a disaster. I don't care how many fish supposedly live in these things, dumping them in the ocean doesn't constitute living in harmony with Nature on the only planet that currently tolerates us.
http://www.farrfeed.com
Graffiti Reef
"It's vandalism.."
ha!
"If you lived down there (and billions of organisms do)..."
But before, there was nothing. Barren, desolate, an "ocean desert" etc - and now there's all this coral and fish and action.
I'm not entirely convinced that throwing these old hunks of train and debris is the best way to do something like this - but damn is it ever symbolic.
John F. Check your facts
I can think of nothing better for the subway cars - they are solid - perfect for structure and fish habitats on our barren NJ sea floors. In a very short period of time they are covered with life and beautiful to behold. Please do not let your shortsighted outlook take away from this incredible opportunity to add beauty and diversity to our ocean floor!
If you want more info please start here.
http://njscuba.net/reefs/index.html
More information needed
I can certainly understand the pros: rare coral species development and less stress on natural reefs, but it still worries me - I'm thinking of that space junk article, and besides I doubt those subway cars are not as toxic as they say. Do they really know what this mass dumping will do...10 years from now? It's like saying let's dump our Tonka trucks and collect fish.
I'm not convinced it's the right thing to do.