Reef Ball Foundation Photos and Project Description Database

De Palm Tours Reef Ball Proposal: For purposes of discussion, this report is divided into five parts 1) Background, 2) Sea Trek Site 3) De Palm Coral Reef Island Snorkeling Reef, 4) Island Wide Opportunities (Boca Catalina, Arashi, and Antilla Shipwreck), 5) Reef Ball Foundation Grant Requirements and 6) Next Steps. Background Hurricane Lenny described by veteran meteorologist John Tewey on San Juan's WOSO-AM radio as, "a once-in-a-lifetime event." pounded the shallow water reefs of the normally protected south side of Aruba with 6-8 foot seas in November of 1999. Aruba is outside of the normal belt of hurricanes and therefore these protected reefs have not experienced this type of event in recorded history. The author of this report has seen coral heads on nearby Curocao which were estimated to be 1,000 to 1,500 years old overturned by Lenny. On the DePalm Island site, the author witnessed coral heads at least 200 years old that had been overturned. Because waves loose about 20% of their energy for each depth interval equal to the maximum wave height, there is fortunately little wave damage past 18-24 feet. However, due to the slope of the reef, many areas experienced physical damages and "sand slides" that damaged reef heads further down. Off Depalm Island, we witnessed sand slide damages down to about 55 feet. Corals propagate both sexually and asexually. After storm events, broken corals that stabilize themselves on hard bottom reattach and grow into new colonies. Those that find sand or sof t bottom initially die on the side facing the seafloor because they need current and light to survive. Without a hard bottom to attach to, they will eventually get moved again in future storms and with each turn more of the corals die, leading to an eventual death of the coral "fragment." Scientific efforts in recent years have developed techniques to gather these dying fragments, stabilize them artificially and then re-seed damaged reef sites to create a dramatically faster recovery from storm events. The ideal time to undertake fragment stabilization is either immediately following the storm, or after one full season (to allow the natural stabilization of the fragments first) avoiding the hottest summer months which can stress corals when oxygen levels are low due to high water temperature. Sea Trek Site You have asked us to survey a bayside side on De Palm Island to develop an underwater attraction for the Sea Trek installation being planned for the site. Bottom Survey Results: 1) The site consists of silt/sand on the surface going to hard packed sands at depths of 4-12 inches. Hard bottom is found about 4 inches below the sand in several areas which are presently covered with calcareous algae species. This depth to hard bottom is conducive to art ificial reef placement, however it is reasonable to expect subsidence (settlement) of heavy materials by 4-12 inches. 1a) Stability: Stability is not an issue for this site since you are in a protected bay outside the normal range of hurricanes. Reef Balls could be stacked if desired (two high without additional supports, higher with center pilings if desired). You could potentially save budget by making the Reef Balls for this site lighter than standard sizes by inflating the central bladder more when casting or by adding additional side holes. 2) The silt in the upper layers of sand is extensive , this will be the biggest treat to the guest experience and maintenance of corals transplanted to the site. We highly recommend that the walking trail be at least 12 inches above the seafloor and that disturbances to the bottom by the guests be minimized at all costs to avoid a significant loss of visibility. 3) Observations of natural settlement species: Hard Corals: Only three species of hard corals where found with 25 meters of the site, all in the encrusting family likely in the lettuce coral group. Within 200 meters (but still on the bay side) we found an knobby coral, likely in the star coral family. Soft Coral: We found few common sea whips Anemones: One of the most strikingly color invertebrates found in the area where pinkish purple Condylactis gigantea Anemones. We noted 8 individuals within 50 meters. These would make an idea "point" attraction during the walk but would need to be artificia lly concentrated to make a striking visual impact. We also noted brown curly cue anemones in abundance. Feather Dusters & Tube Worms: The site had a wide variety of feather dusters and tube worms (mostly non-calcareous) however most were in the brown color ranges. They are in indicator of a high siltation loading in the water and will most likely be a dominant natural settler of artificial reefs. Algaes: There were a wide variety of both calcareous, non--calcareous, macro and micro algaes including some cyno-bacter algaes indicating a possible nitrate/ammonia/silicate or phosphate source within the bay. Levels were not too high to prevent corals from surviving, but probably too high to keep them from settling and or thriving. Fish: Many species of tropical fish were seen in the area, but abundance was concentrated on the existing structures such as the dock, floating barge, and the natural slope. 4) Recommendations: In order to create a reef of high visual impact, we recommend the propagation and transplantation of coral fragments destined to die which were damaged by Lenny. In accordance with our discussion on Island, we recommend (given budget constraints) that a plastic crate walkway is created with various "attractions" along the way including the sunken airplane, a "wall" of Reef Balls, a scattered field of fragment propagated Reef Balls, a Reef Ball Column heavily transplanted with large corals and bubbled with air, a Reef Ball with.....