Reef Ball Foundation Photos and Project Description Database

A project was proposed for snorkeling enhancement.

This is a demonstration of Reef Ball technology including the construction and deployment of 5 Reefs (Mangrove Reef, Hammor Reef, Arrow Reef, Cresent Reef and Pinacle Reef) consisting of over 350 Reef Balls in 6 different sizes and 4 different styles and planted with propagated local imperiled corals including Porites,Favia.Pavona, Psammocora, Anomastraea, and Acropora species. Black mangrove plantings occured on the island and are being augmented with an offshore reef (Mangrove Reef). One reef was designed to enhance grouper (hamour) populations (Hamour Reef). One reef was designed in an arrow formation pointing to Mecca (Arrow Reef). (Pinacle Reef) enhances a natural pinacle that serves as a spawning site for island fish stocks. (Cresent Reef) is easily accessible from a beach area. This project to be awarded the 2006 Reef Ball Foundaiton Project of the Year in the category of "Best Monitoring" due to the commitment of the contractor to hire a professional undewater photographer, Werner Mischler, to photo document the entire construction, deployment, coral propagation, coral planting and coral plug monitoring phases of the project.

500 reef balls were deployed by Scuba International Diving College. The reef ball project has started to attract many large schools of fish, rays and even leopard sharks (on the rare occasion). In conjunction with the Fujairah International Marine Club, a 500 reef ball artificial reef project has already begun, and is regularly monitored by Scuba International staff and customers as well as the Fujairah International Marine Club. One of the wrecks was recently laid close to the reef ball project, which has resulted in an incredible amount of marine life making the new wreck their home.

United Arab Emirates Reef Balls, May 2000. In 2000, this project received the Reef Ball Foundation Project of the Year award for "Innovative Projects" because it was the first use of Artificial Reefs to help provide food to birds of prey that were impacted from an oil spill when shallow water fishing sites were damaged.