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Old Subway Cars As Artificial Reef

Posted by kdawson on from the take-the-a-train-to-the-bottom dept.

Pickens writes "Hundreds of retired New York City subway cars are being sunk sixteen nautical miles off Delaware's Indian River Inlet and about 80 feet underwater, continuing the transformation of 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. 'They're basically luxury condominiums for fish,' says Jeff Tinsman, artificial reef program manager for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Subway cars are roomy enough to invite certain fish, too heavy to shift easily in storms, and durable enough to avoid throwing off debris for decades. Tinsman particularly favors the newer subway cars with stainless steel on the outside to create reefs. 'We call these the DeLoreans of the deep,' he said. But success comes at a price because other states, seeing Delaware's successes, have started competing for the subway cars, which New York City provides free. 'The secret is out, I guess,' said Michael G. Zacchea, the MTA official in charge of getting rid of New York City's old subway cars."

28 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Good idea! by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 5, Funny

    This shore is a good idea! (speaking littorally of course)

    --
    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
    1. Re:Good idea! by Dahamma · · Score: 5, Funny

      This shore is a good idea! (speaking littorally of course)

      I'd mod you up if I could but the masses probably think you are fishing for mod points...

    2. Re:Good idea! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh, cod. This kind of thing makes me eel. I'm net that kind of buoy, sea? Is there really any porpoise to this, or are we carping and whaling?

      Ok, enough about this tail of roe ...

  2. Fools! by jimmux · · Score: 5, Funny

    'We call these the DeLoreans of the deep,'

    You fools! If the dolphins develop time travel there will be no stopping them!

    1. Re:Fools! by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 5, Interesting

      they could probably make 88mph o_o what has science done?!

  3. Very apt by Finallyjoined!!! · · Score: 4, Informative
    Nice one :-)

    littoral -adjective 1. of or pertaining to the shore of a lake, sea, or ocean.


    --
    If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
  4. Oceans need more man made stuff in them! by Shadukar · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. dump some old trash in the previously perfectly fine ocean
    2. ???
    3. LUXURY CONDOMINIUMS FOR FISH

    1. Re:Oceans need more man made stuff in them! by Scruffy+Dan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      in the previously perfectly fine ocean
      The ocean hasn't been previously fine for a very long time now.
      --
      Just another crappy blog
    2. Re:Oceans need more man made stuff in them! by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Interesting

      We've also been leaving large steel objects on the ocean floor for quite some time (>100 years), both accidentally and deliberately . These are the least of our concerns when talking about ocean pollution. If you actually want to do something about the ocean start talking about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, because that's far more harmful to marine life then a few sunken subway cars or ships that actually provide shelter for fish and a surface for coral to grow on.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    3. Re:Oceans need more man made stuff in them! by electrictroy · · Score: 4, Informative

      I've seen videos on History and Discovery Channel. It isn't one giant mass of garbage. It's a nice clear ocean, and then suddenly your ship will come-upon a ship-sized "mass" of accumulated garbage just floating in the middle of noplace. The ocean currents tend to gather trash in a few discrete locations (which should make it easy to clean-up, if any nation decided to take-on that task).

      re: Running out of cars.

      If they find themselves running out of New York subway cars, maybe they could try using passenger cars. We've got plenty of them laying around, just waiting to become a "fish condo".

      --
      The government is not your daddy. Its purpose is not to raid middle-class neighbors' wallets and give it to you.
  5. Typo by arotenbe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Subway cars are roomy enough to invite certain fish, too heavy to shift easily in storms, and durable enough that we won't have to care about them throwing off debris for decades. There, fixed it for you.
    --
    Tomato wedge sperm darts that are Republican.
  6. The last thing I need when I scuba diving by Centurix · · Score: 4, Funny

    Getting mugged by a harpoon weilding, cowry shell demanding aquatic gang member. Insane.

    --
    Task Mangler
  7. asbestos by dancingmad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I actually read this article earlier today (they're coming for my slashdot credibility card!) and it mentioned the amount of asbestos and other materials in the cars. Does anyone know how that comes into play in a marine environment?

    --
    "There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
    1. Re:asbestos by McNally · · Score: 5, Funny

      Does anyone know how that comes into play in a marine environment?
      Clearly the fish will be at an increased risk of lung cancer.
    2. Re:asbestos by adolf · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Asbestos is a real danger to humans because it gets stuck in lungs. Fish, lacking lungs, shouldn't have this problem. Stuff goes *through* the gills, not into and out of them. My experience keeping fish shows that solids regularly pass through the gills of fish in the process of eating.

      The asbestos is probably safer down there than anywhere else, I'd guess.

      --
      Kid-proof tablet..
    3. Re:asbestos by pherthyl · · Score: 5, Funny

      On the other hand their risk of dying in a fire will decrease drastically..

    4. Re:asbestos by aztektum · · Score: 4, Funny

      except that it seems fish's gills work significantly differently than human lungs. that may explain how they can survive underwater?
      --
      :: aztek ::
      No sig for you!!
  8. Re:Memories by robo_mojo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sorry, it got stuck in my head
    Please keep it there!
  9. Like some new large winery cellars. by niktemadur · · Score: 4, Interesting

    With an eye on recycling materials and reducing construction costs for storage cellars, some wineries in northern Mexico have opted for this great idea:
    Dig a deep trench, place old RR cars inside, then fill the trench up again with dirt. And there it is, a cave build like a Lego. A little bit of retrofitting may be necessary, especially where car doors meet, but still, you can save a ton of money in this fashion.
    Surely, not only Mexican wineries are using the same technique.

    --
    Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
    1. Re:Like some new large winery cellars. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's why so many patents are partially or fully credited to hobos or derelicts.

  10. Scrap metal value ? by artg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I thought scrap metal values had gone insane recently - I know this is a sort of recycling, but I'm surprised the cars aren't worth a lot for the steel.

  11. Re:2000 years from now... by drspliff · · Score: 5, Funny
    New york was where?

    "A new discovery by our great leader shows ancient American maps may be off by 200 miles, our great leaders scientists believe New York may have been situated at the opening of the Delaware Bay; alternative theories suggest these submerged relics may have been attributed somehow to experiments at the Black Mesa facility (formerly CERN-LHC) in 2009"

    [history] (net.earth.news) 34899 points posted 3 mars hours ago by GreatLeader

    Halliburton retaliates against France!

    "The Great Leader has sent supporting troops to support Halliburton forces in retaliation following French aggression last week against the sovereign nation. Live holostream and kill-cam with Geraldo Rivera's clone from 7pm."

    [worldnews] (net.earth.actualités) 19148 points posted 5 mars hours ago by GreatLeader
  12. In BC we sink old ships to make habitats... by WoTG · · Score: 4, Informative

    Out here we've sunken many ships to make underwater habitats for fish. The boats are stripped of oils, paints, and hazardous stuff before sinking -- well, nowadays, anyway. Great for scuba divers to look at, so I've been told.

    I can't find a great link in 10s of searching, but this is a start:
    http://www.divingbc.com/

    1. Re:In BC we sink old ships to make habitats... by Skater · · Score: 4, Informative

      Check out the fate of the aircraft carrier USS Orisanky. New York has been dropping subway cars this way for a long time: here are some pictures of Redbird cars being sunk this way several years ago (site requires Javascript so they can show you annoying sliding ads on both sides).

    2. Re:In BC we sink old ships to make habitats... by malkavian · · Score: 4, Informative

      Speaking as a Scuba Diver, these artificial reefs are great. It takes a few years to build up life, but eventually, it becomes a great habitat for a huge variety of life. Even in the early days, you get a lot of 'visitors' as fish start poking round in all the nooks and crannies.
      Over time, decay does set in, and the 'debris' does come loose. This isn't like street litter though. It tends to stay close to the wreck, and the fragments that are too small tend to rust away rather quickly, or be abraded to a sand.
      There are reasonably strict regulations on what can be dumped in as an artificial reef (oil, and all the nasty sea life killing stuff is removed first). And as far as studies go, there's a rich history of wrecks, some of which went down without any cleaning whatsoever, and they are invariably colonised quite rapidly by sea life. Empirical evidence is there aplenty. And with the newer reefs, there are many scuba divers frequenting them (and a good portion of scuba divers are very possessive of the environment, as we get to see the real damage done by running roughshod over it).

  13. Bioaccumulation fears by G3ckoG33k · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hoopla, I tried for ten minutes find anything about the negative impacts of artificial reefs, using Google Scholar ( http://scholar.google.com/ ).

    I used "artificial" and "reefs" in combinations with words like "bioaccumulation", "pcb", "tyres", "pollutants", "chemicals", etc.

    Surprisingly, I only found statements like "needs more research", "no measurable effect" and no-brainers like that.

    Could it be that I missed those true alarmist reports I guessed would be there?! One read like:

    http://www.flseagrant.org/program_areas/ecosystem_health/artificial_reefs/index.htm#21

    "The oil ash and control reefs were constructed with the aid of divers in just one day, and monitoring of the reefs was carried out for one year. Leaching of trace metals from the blocks was extremely slow, and only limited instances of enhanced bioaccumulation of metals were observed. However, pressure from environmental groups led the electric power industry and the State of Florida to discontinue construction of artificial reefs from stabilized waste material."

    I don't want to play this in the hands of waste mongers, but hope some could actually find some more conclusive results.

    Don't get me wrong. Play it safe, please.

    .

  14. Oh I hope they know what they are doing by slew · · Score: 5, Informative
    I remember a long time ago when people tried to dump old tires in the ocean with the thought that they could form the basis for an artificial reef. Apparently that didn't work out so well...

    Maybe it'll work out better this time...

    1. Re:Oh I hope they know what they are doing by edwardpickman · · Score: 4, Funny

      They also have dumped a considerable amount of nuclear waste and nerve gas into the oceans. Don't worry though that was decades ago and the barrels should last 50 years.