Toilets, shopping carts, washing machines and other assorted junk have been dumped into the sea to create habitats for marine organisms and the fish that feed upon them. But making reefs from refuse is now frowned upon. Alabama, for example, banned fishermen from sinking vehicles in the Gulf of Mexico in 1996, even when drained of potentially harmful fluids. Now more bespoke artificial reefs are taking shape. Reefs improvised from junk often do not work well. Corals struggle to colonise some metals, and cars and domestic appliances mostly disintegrate in less than a decade. Some organisms do not take to paints, enamels, plastics or rubber. Precious little sea life has attached itself to the 2m or so tyres sunk in the early1970s to create a reef off Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Tyres occasionally break free, smash into coral on natural reefs and wash ashore.
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