Underwater Cages at Lauderdale by the Sea?

[trigfunctions]

Hi all - we were snorkeling on Sunday May 20 at LBTS (strong current, green water) and saw these "cages" on the sea floor that we've never seen before. Anyone know what they are? I thinmk I remember hearing about some sort of coral restoration project in that area - maybe that's what these are. They were about a the pier length from the shore, near the Hibiscus portal, in about 15 feet of water. There were three, end to end, each about 10 feet by 6 feet or so.

Any ideas? Thanks, trig

 

[joystershell]

Trig,

Did they have some sort of line to the surface? The coral restoration has surface solar collectors sending energy down to the units, which are hopefully spurring coral growth.

 

[mrx3000]

fish traps?

 

[floridanewbe]

Its the bio rock project . the cages are attached to floating solar panels on the surface that incourages coral growth at a increased rate.a full description and video are on Danielle's Dives - About Danielle's Dives on the blog section

 

[trigfunctions]

Nope - nothing like that.

 

[floridanewbe]

bio rock

 

[trigfunctions]

We didn't see any lines to the surface, bouys, or floating panels attached to the cages. Maybe they removed them because of the weather?

---------- Post added May 22nd, 2012 at 09:07 PM ----------

A little googling of "biorock" and I found this website.
Lauderdale by the Sea Bio Rock Page

That's definitely what those cages were. Thanks for the info everyone!

 

[floridanewbe]

at one time they had 4 solar panels but they have disapered over the last few weeks . the reason could be storms or stolen.i dove the area 2 weeks ado and one was still attached but if you say its gone im not shocked. we have taken video over the last 6 months to log the progress but we have not really seen any growth of note

 

[idive2]

Last time I was there I kicked out past them and took a gander at the bottom from around the panels and really saw nothing. Maybe the panels
have become seperated. I have seen the structures though, before the solar thingys were actually put up. Kinda surprised me coming up
on these in a place I had been many times before.

 

[floridanewbe]

I hope the project continues and is successful but its not looking good so far. The results they show on their website is impressive so lets hope so.If anyone wants a detailed description they have a site Biorock . way to much for my one finger typing skills and a bit boring but knock yourself out