[Coral-List] Underwater sculptures

[Magnus Johnson]

I like them.  I think they do a great job of raising awareness of
various issues through the "back door".  Sculpture/art in wild places is
often thought provoking.  One day they may be one of the reasons a
particular area is protected!

-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Todd Barber
Sent: 04 July 2012 18:29
To: Aaron Fischer
Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov; Jason de Caires Taylor
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Underwater sculptures

Hey Folks,

I think you are unfairly judging Jason's sculptures....nearly all
artificial reefs in tropical waters go through several stages of growth
before hard corals take over (including early brown/red/green algae
blooms....eventually coraline algae and then over time corals when
herbivore fish keep the turf algae off the coraline algae).  I have been
working with Jason over the years to insure he has access to the correct
concrete technologies and his sculptures will become good artificial
reefs over time within the limits of the complexity of the structures
for their own artistic forms.

The problem many people have in understanding artificial reefs (or even
natural reefs when formed from newly exposed hard bottom) is that there
is a progression that takes time.  Think about it this way, if you plow
up the land....lets say in the middle of a rainforest at first you will
see weeds then over time bushes eventually trees and maybe a hundred
years or so down the line you would see a return to a nearly virgin
tropical forest.

Coral reefs are the same way, just can take even longer.  They can be
jumpstarted with some plantings (just like you could plant a few trees
in your cleared land to start it quicker....but time is still required.

All of Jason's sculptures are relatively new in terms of age for
tropical clear waters (which are the slowest growing as their is the
least amount of nutrients present....one reason the water is clear!).


Thanks,

Todd R Barber
Chairman, Reef Ball Foundation
609 PORTIA N ST, NOKOMIS, FL 34275

941-484-7482 (Direct)
941-720-7549 (Cell & Goggle Voice)
toddbarber Skype

www,reefball.org (Reef Ball Foundation)
www.artificialreefs.org (Designed Artificial Reefs) www.reefbeach.com
(Reefs for Beach Erosion) www.eternalreefs.com (Memorial Reefs)
www.reefball.com (Reef Ball Foundation)


On Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 8:32 AM, Aaron Fischer <aaron at alohareef.com>
wrote:
> I've been following the development of this site for the past year or
so.
> Any speculation as to why this is happening?  Location, concrete mix 
> used in the sculptures, other?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Aaron Fischer |   972.746.6496 |   aaronjfischer at hotmail.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Jorge 
> Luis Perez-Moreno
> Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2012 2:30 PM
> To: savecoralnow; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Underwater sculptures
>
> I have dived there numerous times and it doesn't seem to be working 
> very well for coral restoration. Except for some encrusting 
> hydrozoans, other cnidarians are not really settling there. A couple 
> of acroporiids were attached here and there but growth has been 
> minimal and guessing from what I've observed there has been some
mortality of those attached corals too.
>
> It seems to be a very efficient macro-algal farm though!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jorge.
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> [coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml..noaa.gov] on behalf of savecoralnow 
> [savecoralnow at gmail.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2012 7:47 PM
> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Underwater sculptures
>
> The photos taken at the Musa site speak for themselves but to be fair,

> it could be considered a question of opinion. Coral restoration or an 
> algae garden?
>
> For those who value opinions; If I wanted to grow weeds, I would plant

> at that Musa site. If I wanted to grow coral, I would look for an 
> alternative solution.
>
> https://plus.google.com/photos/104423404012714791560/albums/5759855025
> 899763
> 473
>
>
>
>
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