Reef Ball Foundation Photos and Project Description Database

Artificial reefs enter uncharted waters: Experiment may spur growth of freshwater habitat Caption: A diver checks out one of the submerged Reef Balls in Stoney Lake. By Howard Lovy / The Detroit News Metro Detroit's urban sprawl has made its way upstream to Oxford, with a brand new condo development. But nobody is complaining, because these new, odd-shaped units are going up underwater, where fishing and diving enthusiasts are hoping to attract huge numbers of tenants. Divers at U.S. Scuba Park in Oxford are spending a lot of time these days at the rocky bottom of Stoney Lake, busy building and studying what they have nicknamed the "arti-fish condos." They're a kind of artificial reef and they have helped to re-establish marine ecosystems in salt water over the past few years. But this is the first time a project like this has been tried in fresh water. If all goes well, these Reef Balls -- the name literally describes their appearance -- will be home not only to a wide variety of critters but to larger and more-abundant ones. The idea came from Bud Uren of U.S. Scuba in Rochester, which runs the scuba park at Stoney Lake. A little over a year ago, he sank a sailboat out on the lake to provide a home for congregations of fish and a destination for divers. But sunken ships and other artificial structures often can be harmful to lakes, or stimulate algae and bacteria growth that interferes with the natural ecosystem. When Uren heard about the Reef Balls, he jumped at the chance because it's a safe habitat for fish and won't pollute the water. "What we're trying to find out -- and it's a fun thing for our divers to get involved with -- is can we, by introducing an artificial habitat, increase the fish population and also by increasing the habitat, can we increase the size of the fish?" Uren said. "And that's what's happened in salt water in the coastlines because the little critters now have a place to hide so the bigger critters can't get to them." If this study yields positive results, that could mean diving and fishing enthusiasts could enjoy better views and better crops in man-made and natural lakes, which often contain just a lot of sand and rocks on the bottom, but no decent underwater neighborhoods for a fish to raise a family. U.S. Scuba received a grant from the Reef Ball Development Group -- a group of 28 volunteers in Atlanta whose stated mission is to help restore the world's marine ecosystems -- to use the Reef Ball molds for four months. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has signed off on the project, satisfied that "it's going to improve and make excellent fish habitat" and not harm the environment, said Michigan conservation officer Wade Hamilton.

Businessman gives back to nature Howard Lovy / The Detroit News Shortly after Todd Barber learned to dive, he began taking pictures of some coral reefs in the Cayman Islands. Fifteen years later, when he returned to see just how much his favorite reefs had grown, he discovered instead that they had been wiped out by a hurricane. Out of this disappointment came a sense of mission. Together with his father, inventor Jerry Barber, he developed his patented "Reef Ball" -- an artificial reef that mimics nature. Come back in a few years to a Reef Ball site, he said, and all you'll see are natural corals. "Since I started diving when I was 15 years old, 70 percent of the coral reefs that were around when I was there are no longer in existence. We've taken what I consider one of the greatest ecosystems -- perhaps next only to the rain forest in terms of species diversity -- and we've decimated over 70 percent of them. I felt like we've got to put something back." Causes for the major loss of corals include: * Sewage and fertilizer runoff. Increased nitrates and ammonia in the water raise the potential for algae to grow all over the corals and kill them. * Natural disasters such as hurricanes. * Global warming is a possibility. As evidence, Barber points to coral bleaching. Corals have a kind of algae that grows inside their skin and will flee if the temperature gets above 92 degrees and oxygen levels drop. Barber said episodes of coral bleaching have been lasting longer over the past 15 years resulting in the death of more corals. His Reef Ball company has been in existence for five years. Now, his company is contributing to an ambitious project to completely restore the reefs of Puerto Rico. "You wake up in the morning and really feel good about what you're doing," said Barber, who does not get paid for his efforts. Neither do his 27 volunteers. "The money's not there but that just doesn't matter when you can wake up and say, 'I'm really doing something positive for the world.' "There are really very few things left in the world where individuals can make that kind of an impact on

The Oakland Press, November 1996 Artificial Reefs Offer Fish Refuge, Room to Grow

Artificial Reefs Offer Fish Refuge At Local Lake.