[Coral-List] Transect Pins

[Jonanthan Shrives]

Help!This summer I'm responsible for implementing a
permanent monitoring program on some coral reefs in a
Honduran MPA. I have read about the use of permanent
pins on the Great Barrier Reef, but the details were a
bit hazy. Could anybody please help me with
suggestions or details on how they may have achieved
something similar in the past, or where to find more
information and how to source materials?
 As far as I understand, the procedure generally
involves using an air drill either fed by an air
source at the surface, or adapted to a regulator on a
SCUBA cylinder. Holes are then drilled as foundations
for stainless steel or aluminium pins, which are fixed
in place with a non-toxic cement or resin. These pins
would be spaced every 25 meters, with four to a 100
meter transect. Each season a line would be attached,
connecting up the pins, and acting as a guide for
transect tapes, then removed after three months, when
the area is unused.

Any ideas on the dimensions of the pins, the materials
the pins would built out of, how deep the hole should
be, what type of resin / cement to use, and where to
source or how to modify an air powered drill?

Thanks for your help, much appreciated!

Jon Shrives