Artificial Reef Building

[Babydamulag]

Here is an idea. Have guests pay to dive at your resort, charge them for the customary items, and ask them to pay extra for an artificial reef building block that they lay in place on one of their dives....hmmmm, what do you think??

 

[DavidPT40]

That would probably work. Especially if aquacultured coral could be transplanted onto the reef blocks.

But heres the catch- In areas with pristine, clean water, there probably isnt any need for artificial reefs. In areas that need artificial reefs due to natural reefs dying, the water may be too polluted to support coral.

 

[chip104]

Good points David.

Hi Baby, I believe the Madrigal clan here in the PI are doing that already. Ask Shugar (Jag) for details. Thinking of doing it as one of our Dive O Ramas.

 

[DeepBlueResort]

Hi All

Let me tell you what we are doing, we are based in Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras, we have been working with the Honduras Tourism Office and Dr. Austin Bowden-Kerby who has helped rebuild the reefs in Fiji.

At the moment we have set up what is basically a nursery for Staghorn Coral by taking cuttings and then growing them on frames, when these have become large enough cuttings will be taken from them and used to re populate the reefs.

Staghorn coral has nearly been depleted in the Caribbean and it is such an important coral for the reefs and for reef creatures.

In addition to this we will be trying reef balls to encourage more habitats for reef creatures and areas for coral to grow. I believe those of us who use the ocean every day for recreation and to make money should help to put something back and to try to show others what can be done to help.

What we would like to do at our resort is to have groups down ...at no extra charge and included with their normal diving to spend the week showing them about reef reconstruction and conservation, it would be interesting to hear your views on this.

 

[archman]

At the moment we have set up what is basically a nursery for Staghorn Coral by taking cuttings and then growing them on frames, when these have become large enough cuttings will be taken from them and used to re populate the reefs.

Staghorn coral has nearly been depleted in the Caribbean and it is such an important coral for the reefs and for reef creatures.

I presume the staghorn you are carefully cultivating has survived the nasty Caribbean disease? It would suck to get all that coral ready to go, and then have it up and die on you in a month when a rogue water mass carrying the disease vector passes through. Heck, even an unusually warm water mass could trash that stuff in a jiffy. If that happened to me after all that work, I would be very ticked off.

Regarding the idea of individual divers planting their own "reef block", it's better than nothing, but there are more effective options. Rubble piles are not very effective artificial reefs, and look pretty ugly. In order for it to "work", some sort of LEGO frame would have to be set up that divers could contribute to on a piece-by-piece basis. I have never heard of such a setup, but it isn't excessively farfetched. It would require a lot of planning and coordination, as well as cooperation with an existing artifical reef manufacturer.

 

[DeepBlueResort]

Hi Archman

Yes that is why Dr Austin Bowden-Kerby was here so he could advise on all these matters, the Reef Ball system actually seems to work well have a look at this link http://www.reefball.org/album/indonesia/2005monitoringphotos/index.html I agre they look Ugly to start with but after a while they are very good

 

[sololady]

Helllooooo my friend!

I'll be looking forward to seeing your Reef Balls in February. Saw some of them being built when we were there in August. Where are you guys putting them out?

I tell ya, it's not even December yet and I am really looking forward to seeing you guys. Tell Jasmine and the gang I said hi and to keep the Salva Vida cold for me!

 

[chip104]

Hi Archman

Yes that is why Dr Austin Bowden-Kerby was here so he could advise on all these matters, the Reef Ball system actually seems to work well have a look at this link http://www.reefball.org/album/indonesia/2005monitoringphotos/index.html I agre they look Ugly to start with but after a while they are very good

Hi Deep,

Those are pretty big table corals and fans! I'm guessing this project in indonesia began in the late 90s or early 2ks?

How big are the coral when you transplant? Just neubens? Also just wondering if you ever take broken pieces to transplant and how you attach them to the reefs. Thanks!

 

[DeepBlueResort]

Hi to sololady and chip104

The reef balls are no older than 5 years so the growth is very impressive, we usually try to find broken pieces or pieces with disease on which we can cut off, the lengths are between 1 inch and 12 inches. When we take ''cuttings'' from them to transplant we just attach to the reef in holes the system has been working very well in other countries but we will have to wait another year before we can take any ''cuttings''

Sololady the frames are out there with the Staghorn growing right in front of the resort so we can keep an eye on them and help look after them the reef balls we hopefully will be putting in soon just got to get permissions and the Salva Vida is being kept cold for you

 

[archman]

Everything's always prettier in that part of the Caribbean...:life: