Could our trash become local fishes’ treasure?

Short Wave

NPR

News, Life Sciences, Daily News, Astronomy, Nature, Science

4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2026

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Helicopters. Cargo containers. Old washing machines. For years, fishermen dumped this waste into the Gulf of Mexico. But they weren’t just trying to get rid of junk; they were trying to create artificial reefs that would help attract fish. For this month’s Nature Quest, WWNO coastal reporter Eva Tesfaye takes a (metaphorical) dive into the gulf to find out if Alabama’s ocean junkyard is an economic – and environmental – solution.

Want to learn more about artificial reefs? Check out WWNO's podcast Sea Change for more reporting from Eva and her colleagues.

This episode is part of Nature Quest, our monthly segment that brings you a question from a Short Waver who is noticing a change in the world around them.
Send a voice memo to shortwave@npr.org telling us your name, location and a question about a change you're seeing in nature – it could be our next Nature Quest episode!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,
0:05.4	investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish.
0:11.1	More information is available at Hewlett.org.
0:14.7	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:20.3	Hey, Shortwavers, Emily Kwong here, and for this month's nature quest, I'm joined by Eva Tessify,
0:26.3	former shortwave producer and the current coastal reporter at WWNO, New Orleans Public Radio.
0:31.7	Hi, Eva.
0:32.7	Hey, Emily, so did you know that in the 80s people purposefully dumped a lot of weird stuff in the Gulf of Mexico?
0:40.4	I've done cobra helicopters, you know, old washer machines tied together.
0:45.9	Does a sucking stripbooker. Old voting machines tied together.
0:50.4	It's trash. Why would people be dumping trash into the Gulf of Mexico?
0:53.6	They were trying to create artificial reefs.
0:56.7	Those are man-made structures placed in the water to create habitat for fish.
1:01.5	Basically, fishermen realized they could put pretty much anything in the water, and the
1:05.5	fish would gather around it.
1:06.9	In Mississippi, we call out a honey hole.
1:09.9	And if you can go to the honey hole and catch fish every time, you're going to keep going back.
1:14.7	That's Mississippi House Representative Republican Mike Ezel.
1:18.6	He and some others recently introduced a bipartisan bill to streamline a federal program that turns retired oil rigs into artificial reefs.
1:26.6	This is so interesting.
1:27.7	I've never heard of artificial reefs as a way to attract fish.
1:31.2	Yeah, Emily, there are two places in the world with the largest amount of reefs.
	...

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