The tires came from a 40,000-tire breakwater installed in 1990 to expand the Beauharnois marina.
Unusual webbed feet are taking over the St. Lawrence this weekend.
Led by explorer and underwater filmmaker Nathalie Lasselin, volunteer divers are surveying the river bed near Beauharnois, in the Montérégie region, to remove from the water hundreds of tires that have been polluting the aquatic environment for decades.
The tires came from a 40,000-tire breakwater installed in 1990 to expand the Beauharnois marina. The breakwater later sank.
The only problem was the tires were attached by rubber straps containing urethane, a chemical substance which, in too high a concentration, can cause health damage.
Added to this problem was the microplastic pollution created by the tires and the plastic surrounding them when the tires were put in the water.
About 20 volunteers make up Lasselin’s troops. She chose experienced divers, as they have to advance solo with “zero visibility” and the risk of hitting objects or getting caught in fishing lines, she said.
Lasselin said she hopes to remove between 1,000 and 1,500 tires from the river during the 15-day mission.
This is a new type of mission for the diver, a member of the non-profit organization Aqua Sub Terra, whose role is to protect and promote aquatic and underground resources.
The mission may be repeated annually. That’s because the number of tires remaining underwater, out of the original 40,000, is unknown, but well above the number of tires Lasselin and her crew hope to recover this year.