Dumping old New York City subway cars into the Atlantic Ocean (A and B) may look like irresponsible waste disposal. But environmentalists are thrilled about it because the subway cars are being used to create artificial reefs off the Atlantic coast from New Jersey to Florida.
Most of the region’s natural seabed is flat sand. Each subway car adds hundreds of square feet of hard surfaces for plankton, mollusks, and other tiny sea creatures to latch onto. After about five years underwater, a subway car is transformed (C).
Once established, the reef colonies attract small fish that feed on them—and larger fish, such as marlin and tuna, that feed on the small fish. The cars’ nooks and crannies also allow fish like sea bass to elude sharks and other big predators.
About 2,500 subway cars were dumped from 2007 to 2010, but they aren’t the only objects used. Artificial reefs have also been created with tugboats, tanks, shipping containers, and ships—including a U.S. Coast Guard cutter (D), shown here after 22 years on reef duty.