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<DIV><FONT size=2>First of all, I would echo John's statements re fish. Be
careful about building reefs in heavily-fished areas, because the last thing you
need is another FAD.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>On the other hand, questions about proper materials etc may
readily be answered. These are all in the literature, I could dig the refs out
if necesssary.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>1. properly-constructed "artificial" reef materials resemble
real ones as closely as possible, hence the quotes. In terms of larval success,
the best stuff to use is sawn-up or broken-up corals-but we would not wish to
make a habit of this. Pleistocene reef rock is abundant in many places in the
Caribbean, and that stuff works fine-as do concrete blocks, but they cost
more.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>2. absolutely to be avoided is the conversion of a terrestrial
waste-disposal problem into a reef. Avoid metals, plastics. Fish assemble on
spatially-complex metal structures very quickly, but they know naught of heavy
metal accumulation, etc. Stick to calcium carbonate.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>3. build as much spatial complexity as possible into whatever
you do. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>The reefs I built 25 years ago in Discovery Bay are still
there, now heavily-silted, but with corals and other inverts growing all over
them, bioeroders in the reef rock and concrete blocks...but there are lessons.
Corals accreted on the blocks only above the substrate, avoiding the lower layer
of suspended sediment. And to echo John: local fishermen were potting lobster
off these things 6 months after they were built, lobster that may well have
survived better on a "real" reef.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>