Group uses old tyres to build artificial reefs

National

Help PNG has found a good use for old and discarded vehicle tyres to build artificial reefs.
The organisation is a marine environment conservation, protection and development group that has been piloting a new project on building artificial reefs to create habitats for fish and other marine life.
Chief executive of Help PNG Frank Butler said the artificial reefs were similar to natural reef ecosystems that enabled fish and other marine life to take shelter in and thrive.
“Not only this, but the artificial reefs have also taken over the roles of natural reefs in protecting coasts from strong currents and waves and becoming a natural water filtration system,” he said.
The organisation is also reviving a fight against the use of plastic shopping bags.
Butler said Help PNG had been collecting  used tyres this year, bolting them together in layers and laying them out on the seabed at Bootless Bay.
He said the tyres were laid out in layers up to 10 high.
Butler said the idea was not new as the first large scale project was carried out in the United States  and France.
He said his group decided on the legacy project because population increase limited land and other resources.