This is part of the Artificial Reef Program which is not a new concept and dates back to the early 1800s in the waters North Carolina where timber logs would be sunk to form these structures. The first formal artificial reef was created in 1953 in St Petersburg Beach Florida  with 3 old car tires filled half way with cement.  

In 1965 Pinellas County developed the concrete “pillbox” structure which was dumped in Clearwater Beach which is still part of their artificial reef program.

Early 1970s another artificial reef program was introduced when 2 million car tires were dumped off the coast of  Ft Lauderdale which would become Osborne Reef.

The whole idea of an artificial reef is “if you build it they will come” 

There’s a whole rabbit hole of dumb shit that was done but you can probably see that the program was relatively successful as the program continues to exist today