Was thinking about artificial reefs along WA coast to provide a better class of waves for Perth surfers.
I work on a mine site and the amount of used Truck tyres here that could be used to build reefs is huge.
What i am after is some ideas of the Pros and Cons involved with such a project.
Pollution, beach erosion, introduced ecosystems thing like that.
Has this idea been proposed before, and to which local councils?
Thoughts?
I drive past shi loads of used truck tyres on the way to site every day(Pilbara) , good luck getting the mining companies to let you have them
Took me two months to get approval to drive to work(570kms) , about 5hr's driving , instead of flying from site to Perth then ovenight stay, then fly back home the next day. Logic does not work in this environment
.There is a camp near me that has just been closed , I'll bet all the near new air-cons end up full of red dirt somewhere and fkkd.
The tyres are a great idea , but they will probably just pile up and waste more space.
that's what i was thinking, but if we can get the "companies" involved as part of a community project, they might be more willing to supply or transport the tyres.
Are there any examples of purpose built artificial surf reefs that have been successful?
Tyre reefs can be tricky..... You can't just dump them anywhere as they are regarded as a maritime hazard .... But they can be done with planning.
They also need to be in 20+ m deep mainly to stop movement from tides etc and provide some safety for shipping. http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/fisheries/recreational_fishing/artificial_reefs
www.benandcamera.com/diving/adelaide-south-australian-dive-sites/noarlunga-tyre%C2%A0reef/
Gizmo they are talking about offshore artificial reefs for fishing. Obviously 20m deep will not give us much of a usable wave break lol
The Perth one was a dismal failure and I really can't see why. I heard that a wave breaks in roughly it's own depth. ie: 1.5m swell will begin to break in about 1.5 deep water.
So how hard is it to make a pile of tyres mostly joined together, in a piled up line, such that we have a reef 1.5m deep and all the surrounding water is 10m deep. And get the angle right so a predominantly SW direction swell will peel as it impacts the artificial reef? I must be in la-la land cos it sounds easy but the GovCo, aided by a University, fkd it up.
Considering tyres cost money to dispose of, mining co's love publicity, and artificial reefs are good for biodiversity, and the divers and fisho's have had plenty provided to them, maybe we should see what we could get going?
Isn't Arto's made up of bloody great chunks of Bluemetal or some such rock?
Would think that a tyre reef would have to be filled in with concrete or something to hold it all together.
Read a write up in a UK mag many moons ago re artificial reefs for surfing
Despite the claims of the manufacturer (NZ based from memory) it has been less than sucessfull.
The manufacturer blamed the install subbie and took over the install and it still didnt work well - despite the claims of the manufacturer.
One example only I know.
It'd be good if you gave this a go. It's been tried before, but there's no reason not to try again.
The Artificial Reef at Cables creates an awesome wave. The problem is swell - it doesn't get much. I'm told that it is because Rottnest abosorbs and distorts alot of the swell to that area. Not sure if that's true. On the rare 4-5m swell, it cranks.
Somewhere like south of Brighton, north of Floreat would be ok. A bit of swell, but not that many beach users.
Pros - great fish habitat.
Cons - apparently erosion. I would have thought that if the reef was offshore far enough the wave would dissipate before hitting the beach. At Cables, the inner is now smaller as a result of the reef, that must mean less erosion than before - dunno.
There is a tyre reef off Warnbro beach mate, Fishing reef.
No swell in the bay for surf but use to get a nasty wind wave break of the old groyne near The B!tch in the 'good ol days' Big wave but i was a grom.
Anyone know what im talkin about?
Contact Rocko council and/or if ya can there is a bloke on the council i think who has/had a lot to do with fishing and boating.
Frank Gibson.
in the same vein - different page called "Beach nourishment" this covers your shallow water sand dredge dump for a surf break - http://www.surfingramps.com.au/HotTopics.htm
Personally - I would lay a few big V of geodesic (or whatever the large sand filled bags are called) sand filled bags offshore (the stable bit) then periodically replenish this with the nutrition component of pumped sand... (The open arms of the V pointing out to sea).
Currently on the Sunshine coast at Noosa and at Moololaba there are a permanent dredge from river dump along beach pipes ...and in the near future another to be laid for the Alex to Cotton tree stretch of beach too. -
Being a bit more constructive with this would be a win win - better beach and more opportunity for a good surf break... and as designs improve with knowledge change the destructive (think erosion) wave to a more neutral or even constructive wave - (think piling up sand)
Now just have to learn how to surf
AP
The east coast USA has a heap of fishing reefs (-20m+) built from discarded tyres during the 70's, not sure they still do it, concrete appears the prefered option now, do a google on reef balls. Essentially, the material cost is less an issue than transport, installation, management and study costs.
The concept behind the sand slug project i worked on at Nth Cronulla - was to create a temporary sand-only bombora at -4m to -8m deep. Some fantastic peak formations formed up in the lee of the feature. Yes, the sand dispersed shoreward, especially with a big storm on 1st August, and built up the beach. Key issue in this project - it cost no extra dollars to improve the surf. So i expect we will see more projects like this.
Here is an overview of the Perth Reefhttp://www.surfingramps.com.au/CablesArtificialSurfingReef
Here is an overview of the Narrowneck Reef
www.surfingramps.com.au/Narrowneck
Here is an overview of crew up near Bundaberg (small waves, big tides), who got out there at low tide with an excavator and shifted the boulders, another low cost method.
www.surfingramps.com.au/bargarasurf
