Charles Hughes Kirbo Memorial Reef
Jacksonville & The Reef Ball Foundation
Build The Charles Hughes Kirbo Memorial Reef
For Immediate Release;
Contact: Larry Beggs
(941)650-2519
JACKSONVILLE, FL (December
16, 1999)-
The
Reef Ball Foundation, an international environmental organization
that restores coral reefs and marine habitat with attractive,
environmentally safe artificial reefs, is in the construction phase
of making 500+ Reef Balls to be deployed about 6 miles off the coast
between St. Augustine and Jacksonville. This innovative and proven
reef design is the first of its kind to be deployed in all of
Northeast Florida. The site of construction is at the Music Shed,
downtown courtesy of the Jacksonville Riverfront Corporation.
There will be a Media Day at the Music
Shed, downtown Jacksonville, on Saturday, October 23rd from 11:00
to 12:00 noon to kick off the final construction phase.
The reef is being built in honor of Atlanta, Georgia attorney,
Charles H. Kirbo, who served as an advisor and lawyer to President
Jimmy Carter, was a trustee of the Carter Center and a trustee of
the T. M. and Irene B. Kirbo Charitable Trust. The reef is being
built thanks to a grant from the Kirbo Charitable Trust and the Reef
Ball Foundation.
The project will be a collaborative effort between local schools,
such as Mandarin and Fletcher High Schools, St. Augustine High
School and Jacksonville University, and community organizations and
local businesses such as the Jacksonville Offshore Sport Fishing
Club and Jacksonville Reef Research Team. Construction of the Reef
Balls is being done by Reef Innovations. Representatives from each
of these organizations will be present to answer questions regarding
their involvement. The project coordinator, Larry Beggs, is Vice
President of the Reef Ball Development Group, LTD and
president of Reef Innovations.
Reef Balls are mound shaped concrete artificial reef modules that
mimic natural coral heads. The modules have many different sized
holes in them to provide habitat for many types of marine life. Reef
Balls are made by pouring environmentally safe concrete into
patented mold systems patented by the Reef Ball Development Group
who is also a partner in this project. They are engineered to be
simple to make and deploy, and are unique in that they can be
floated to their drop site behind any boat by utilizing an internal,
inflatable bladder. However, due to the sheer size of this reef, it
will have to be taken offshore on a barge. Reef Balls are designed
to be stable on the ocean floor, and have been proven not to move
even after hurricane force winds have passed overhead.
Patented Reef Ball systems have several advantages over the
artificial reefs currently being built. The modules are affordable,
easy to deploy, and they populate with fish quickly. Additionally,
because the reef can be placed on the sea floor in a systematic way,
it lends itself to doing research. This is where the local schools
and Reef Research Team can take advantage of them in an effort to
use this as a research reef. Students from area colleges and high
schools will be trained to collect data, like water quality and fish
counts, to contribute to a database of information on the
productivity of reefs. Reef Balls are unique among other artificial
reefs since they are designed to attract the same number and
densities of main species as the natural reefs. Not having too many
or too few of all marine species helps to keep the reefs in
"balance" so that production of fish occurs rather than
just an attraction of fish.
With over 200 projects worldwide, The Reef Ball Foundation is
making a big splash to help save the world’s ailing ocean
reefs,and contribute to the educational efforts of students
interested in marine science and preserving their oceans. The
foundation’s projects range from the Boy Scout’s of America’s
High Adventure program in Islamorada, Florida to the government of
Sarawak’s marine sanctuary for sea turtles in Malaysia to
Instituto Ecoplan’s habitat restoration project in Brazil. Upon
completion of the project, The Reef Ball Foundation will be loaning
students at area schools up to six molds per school to continue
construction of balls that can be deployed at a later date next
spring.
CHK Memorial Reef
Project Outline
Charles H Kirbo Bio
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