Reef Ball Foundation Photos and Project Description Database

Next months meeting is a fabulous dinner with one of the most innovative and interesting people in our hobby. John Walch has been invited to speak to the WMAS more times than any other guest. This will be his fourth engagement here! John co-founded C-Quest, the first and still operating marine ornamental fish hatchery, has taught Pacific Islanders how to farm clams and coral and was the major inspiration (1997 article in FAMA) for the now famous and widely used RDP Refugium. He is well worth listening to. I hope everyone will try to attend this meeting. One of my questions for him will be, "Are those live coral on that reefball and what is the ball made of?" (See pic below) Below is part of his biography, found here: http://www.reefball.com/map/contractorresumes/johnwalch.htm "As a professional underwater photographer during the mid 1980?s, John realized that Coral Reefs were rapidly exhibiting negative effects from human abuse. To help lesson the pressure being placed on these already fragile marine ecosystems, John realized that the culturing of ornamental marine life was imperative and has devoted his professional life in this pursuit. For over 20 years, John has successfully propagated numerous species of ornamental marine fish and invertebrates. "In 1989 John co-founded C-QUEST, inc. the worlds largest ornamental marine fish hatchery located in Puerto Rico. John was responsible for all facets of design, permitting, construction and operation of this commercial scale hatchery. Currently John serves as marketing director for C-QUEST, inc. "From 1995 to 1999 John served as the director of R&D for WildLife ecosystems of TN. Duties included improving the techniques used in the propagation of corals, fishes, and other ornamental marine life. He was also one of the principle designers of the Reverse Daylight Photosynthesis (RDP) filtration method for marine systems....