FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Divers have begun a huge cleanup off Fort Lauderdale beach. They are trying to remove 700,000 tires from the sea floor that were deliberately placed there as an artificial reef in 60 to 70 feet of water.

RELATED: Used Tires Buried Off Fort Lauderdale Beach

In 1972, approximately 2 million used tires were dumped off of the Florida coast with intentions of building the world's largest artificial reef. The tires cover 36 acres of the Osborne Reef off of Broward County. The reef is 7,000 feet offshore of Sunrise Boulevard at a depth of 65 feet.

Intended as a fish habitat, the tires instead failed to support marine life and began to destroy nearby coral reefs, according to marine biologists.

Army and Navy salvage divers, along with state tire recycling experts and marine biologists from Broward County and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, have begun the massive cleanup.

The tires will be transported with the help of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection from Port Everglades, where an Army Landing Craft Utility will unload tractor hyphen trailers filled with the tires each day.

Tires recovered from the sea floor will be processed into tire-derived fuel. A Georgia recycled-paper plant is expected to use the fuel this summer.

Broward County and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said they are working to ensure the few living corals in the area are protected.

The project is expected to continue through 2010.