Cemetary Reef Project
The Reef Ball Foundation, working with the DOE & West Indian Marine deployed and anchored 4 reef balls and planted them with coral as a one year test for nearshore reef habitat rehabilitation after hurricane damage weakened nearshore reefs. One year later, the monitoring showed a sucess survival of corals and good fish populations including fish spawning on the Reef Balls. However, coral growth was slow and some transplants did not survive likely due to the nearshore loss of red mangroves that have an interconnected ecosystem providing corals with both cleaner water and food supplies.
In November 2005, the Coral Team placed 4 Ultra Balls built and deployed by West Indian Marine in order to evaluate Reef Ball suitablity for near shore coral reef rehabilition applications in the Cayman Islands.
Nov. 2006 monitoring shows that the Reef Balls are successful and corals are growing at the same rate as the natural corals. Comparisions between the reef crest freshly exposed to the Reef Balls show similar fouling rates, with the Reef Balls slightly ahead due to planted corals.
The monitoring also indicates that near shore recovery is going to be a slow process taking from between 4-15 years before recovery is complete assuming no additional damages or impacts to the near shore environement.
Due to the outstanding support provided by the DoE for several on-going projects, the Reef Ball Foundation created a special plaque to recognize the contribution.
The Reef Ball Foundation conducted a project Feb 24th-March 3rd, 2007 in the Cayman Islands and cast and deployed a Harold Hudson "layer cake" artificial reef module with a specially made navy brass plaque bearing the words in raised lettering:
"The Reef Doctor"
Harold Hudson, Phd
The Reef Ball Foundation
Thanks You
The module was deployed at approximately
19°21'52.82"N 81°23'48.99"W
along with 30 additional modules which will be planted
with propagated corals rescued from hurricane damaged stock.
Volunteers from around the world are gathering for the project
including some of Harold's students to plant the corals.
The reef will be added to over time to help rehabilitate nearshore habitat loss due to Hurricane Ivan.
The brass plaque was donated by Eternal Reefs and $5,000 of funding for the project came from the Harold Hudson Layer Cake Fund of the Reef Ball Foundation. Additional funding came from the Reef Ball Foundation, Cayman Department of
Enviornment, Marriott Beach Resort Hotel, Red Sail Sports, the Spurlino Foundation, and Al La Kabob restaurant and others
Congratulations Harold on all your achievements!
Photos of the as built monitoring photos for each deployment and follow up monitorings by date.
The Spurlino Foundation provided a grant to the Reef Ball Foundation to help restore nearshore coral reef habitats after the hurricane. The funds were used to create a nearshore reef off the 7 mile beach area known as Cemetary Reef as it is only a few hundred feet offshore of a cemetary with public beach access. The Reef Balls were placed inside of a marine protected area where fishing is not allowed. Not only were the reefs installed with the funding, but the DOE was provided with 6 Reef Ball molds and training to continue building onto this reef over time using community volunteers and DOE staff. The Reef will also provide an opportunity for volunteer groups interested in coral propagation and planting activities. A 2005 project on the same site with 4 test Reef Balls provides a benchmark to gauge volunteer effort sucess in this work.
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