NEWPORT BEACH : Reef Made of Old Tires OKd Off Balboa Pier

The City Council has approved a nonprofit company’s plan to build a 500- to 1,000-foot tire reef off the Balboa Pier as a demonstration project, but the project also must clear state Coastal Commission and Fish and Game Department hurdles before it can proceed.

The Marine Forest Society hopes to build an artificial reef to serve as a breeding ground for mussels, fish and other sea creatures.

“It has been the dream of the Marine Forest Society to create some habitats for fish and other sea life,” said Richard Higby, a spokesman for the group. “This is the beginning of what we see as a community-operated effort to return to the sea what has been taken.”

The project, partly funded by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, would explore the feasibility of using 30,000 tires, strung together in 10-acre tire bundles, to increase the area’s marine habitat.

Society members encouraged the council to approve a request for a harbor permit.

Dave Kolczynski, an society board member, said he has seen 27 species of fish and other sea animals in the group’s test reef. Kolczynski said among the fish breeding there are bass and sheep’s head, which are a mainstay of the local fishing industry and which he has not seen breeding in the area since 1967.

Although no one spoke against the plan, both the Coastal Commission and Fish and Game wrote the city to request that an environmental impact report be prepared, contending old tires are not an appropriate reef material.

The permit requires the Marine Forest Society to post a bond and to inspect the reef monthly to make sure it is sound, replacing any worn rope bindings.