Press Release from Sand Dollar Resort: The Reef Balls Are Here!
For Immediate Release, January 11, 2006, Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, Sand Dollar Resort:
For more information contact: Jorgen Weterrings, jweterrings@yahoo.com
Sand Dollar Bonaire Lends A Helping Hand with Coral Reef Expansion
Sand Dollar Condominium owners, hotel staff, dive staff and marine enthusiasts on
the island of Bonaire have joined forces to institute a pilot program dedicated to the
production of artificial reefs.
Although Bonaire lays claim to one of the most healthy fringing reef systems in the
Caribbean, it lost some of the hard coral formations that thrived along its shallow
terraces in a storm surge six years ago. To help speed up the regeneration of this
coral, a process that if left to nature would easily span a human lifetime, Sand Dollar
is now building and will shortly place a total of twenty, 600 lb. Reef Balls as part of a
pilot project with the Bonaire Marine Park. Most of the reef balls will be placed immediately in front of Sand Dollar
adjacent to Bari Reef.
The three-foot high structures, which resemble
upside down tea cups, are made of a special
concrete mixture whose Ph levels are closer to
that of the ocean, thereby stimulating early
marine assimilation and growth. These reef
balls contain series of eight to thirteen holes
that make them especially attractive to
Bonaire’s diverse marine life. The surface of the
Reef Balls have also been designed and
prepared to encourage the adhesion of new coral polyps. Sand Dollar expects to place these reef balls
directly in front of the resort in 10 feet of water in late January or early February.
This artificial reef project will probably rank among
such significant and positive interventions by
humans on Bonaire's marine life as the sinking of
the Hilma Hooker, the Sponge Reattachment Project of 1989, carried out on the pilings under the Town Pier and the fish
management practices that have preserved the parrotfish.
Private citizens are sponsoring individual reef balls for $300 and will be
identified on a plaque mounted in the Sand Dollar lobby. Every reef ball
will be identified with a number stamped on a brass tag affixed to each
ball. As part of the project, both snorkelers and divers will be able to log
the different marine species they find on each ball in logs books kept at
the dive shop.
The Reef Ball project is being executed with the full support of the
Bonaire Marine Park. Jorgen Weterings, a Sand Dollar condo owner and
head of the project stated, "the pilot project will be monitored for two
years with assistance from local naturalists Dee Scarr (Touch the Sea)
and Jerry Ligon (Bonaire Dive & Adventure). Everyone who has heard
about
this
project
has
been
willing to sponsor a reef ball. The maintenance workers
at Sand Dollar who are helping to build these reef balls
have really embraced the project and the opportunity to
make a positive contribution to the marine environment."
Bonaire may be best known for the diving, but this
project will directly benefit snorkelers because of the
shallow placement of the reef balls. If this pilot project
goes well, Weterrings hopes to see a bigger second project in the future.
Supporters who are interested in aiding the project can buy a reef ball t-shirt at the Sand Dollar office or sponsor a reef ball by contacting Weterrings at jweterrings@yahoo.com
checking this page for details. You can learn more about reef balls at www.reefball.org. General information and reservations: 1-800-288-4773.
Sand Dollar Condo Scuba Resort Bonaire, Netherlands antilles ........
