Artificial Reef

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lara1018:
hi everyone! am very glad to see so many divers involved in reef protection/conservation efforts.i guess the point i'm trying to make, is that a reef is complex ecosystem. and when trying to rebuild one, we should be extra cautious. we don't fully understand everything down there, and how they interrelate... when in doubt, stop and ask a marine biologist :)
good luck to everyone! i wish everyone success with their reefs! keep up the effort :)

Point well taken .

To clarify or add some points;

Before i became a scuba diver, i have been in the aquarium hobby specifically studying propagation of fishes and corals.

I am happy to say , so far of those coral transplanting we did, even Relocating Giant CLams, All have survived and are growing with various organizms growing beside them living in symbiosis.

as for the location , the location where the artificial reefs are in a location around rocks, and very close to boulder formations that have tumbled down from the mountain. and again as it has been stated in the earlier thread, the current in the area is mild. I have been diving in the particular area for several years now, year in and out, even have done dives during TYPHOONS !!!! (great diving during this times) and the current has always been manageable even by newbie divers. The area in in more or less in a naturally protected area.

One point comes into mind. I hope those doing Clean ups, would brief divers to observe debris they remove like (bicycles, refrigerators, chairs, other objects) that no organism has taken the "trash" (trash to us, but home to others) to be their substrate.

I have seen for several years now, objects that have been removed from the sea in these clean up operations , "trash" that have been substrates for various coraline algae, juvenile corals, sponges, etc. This definitely kills them. :(:
 
lara1018:
suitable substrate for coral recruitment.
:)
hi lara! not nitpicking... found it funny when i was reading your post... all of a sudden i realized: "oo nga naman, there IS a science to this beyond dumping old cars into the ocean... hello!" :banghead:

w/c leads me to digress...

you know how now we're more "conscious" of how what we do affects the environment and do things to allow the future a chance? this is supposedly as opposed to our "forefathers" who did not think of biosphere impacts etc etc etc (for example introducing alien species into an ecosystem)

but are we just repeating the mistakes of the past?

philosophical question really and i hope it made sense...

Jag
 
it did make sense jag. and i think that's something that comes to mind (i hope!) everytime anyone deliberately intervenes with nature. i come from the school of thought that we know enough to act, but have to act with a lot of caution and err on the conservative side. i think the greatest crime would be not doing anything while we're waiting for all of the questions to be answered. by which time, there might be nothing left! BUT, i would always be the first to admit when i'm wrong, stop, and do immediate remediation if needed afterwards.

paolo, i'd be happy to receive any updates on how your clams are doing. and what types of organisms are settling near (even ON them!). i know people who are always happy to get information about how their clam babies are getting on. am assuming you got them from MSI? or did i misunderstand? you can email me at lara@upmsi.ph
 
lara1018:
paolo, i'd be happy to receive any updates on how your clams are doing. and what types of organisms are settling near (even ON them!). i know people who are always happy to get information about how their clam babies are getting on. am assuming you got them from MSI? or did i misunderstand? you can email me at lara@upmsi.ph


there are two clam projects, well one really in the area. and that is the clam seeding done by Dive N Trek. and they are doing good. and yess it is thru MSI. the project is handled by Ross.

The other clam relocation is what we did, we found a giant clam in an unprotected area. so we relocated it to an area where there is some protection, near the dive resort.

When i say unprotected, it is becasue there are some , well, squatters, starting to colonize an area near the dive resort and they have been harvesting the sea for whatever they can eat. imagine even LION FISHES !!!, and to say they are poisonous. But they eat them anyway. :bomb:
 
PaoloV:

Youre artificial reef sounds very much like what I had in mind for our place. I got the idea from a picture on the net. I would really appreciate pictures and instructions. How do you assemble in water? And what materials are in one unit? Need this for costs.

BTW Ross was my CD last Nov 5 - 18. We had a blast.

Paul
 
partridge:
PaoloV:

Youre artificial reef sounds very much like what I had in mind for our place. I got the idea from a picture on the net. I would really appreciate pictures and instructions. How do you assemble in water? And what materials are in one unit? Need this for costs.

BTW Ross was my CD last Nov 5 - 18. We had a blast.

Paul

by next year i'll probably have some pictures.

So you got YOUR PRO # already?
 
guys, we have an artificial reef here too. its in agutayan island in jasaan. special concrete ARs were installed starting january of 2000 in an area that is a marine sanctuary. the marine sanctuary is protected by the LGU and the AR is maintained by a civic group and a local diver group. i am a member of this diver group. in 2001, the LGU and these same groups did a clam seeding in this same marine sanctuary. we intend to continue looking after this project with the LGU and many supporting companies and civic groups. here's some pics.
 
I like how you put it, "......it is geologically that way for a reason." But we have establish similar Concrete A/R modules in a plain sandy bottom, the nearest natural reef is about 2kms away.
Our initial objective is to attract fish for fishing, until we found spots of wud be corals on the surface. 2+ years passed by and we have steady growth of both soft and hard corals. Fishing was entirely banned now, and we have schools of Jacks(carangidae), Barracudas(Sphyraena sp.), Caesio's, Snappers, Siganids, Groupers, etc.
Our AR's of about 30 1cbm modules, weighing 250kg each, was established at 45ft, so it is easily reach by free diving.
Hey, I recently took some pictures, I will share em with you.
 

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