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Vol.3
No.1
Environment
Reef
Balls:
A Concrete Solution
Text & Photos by:
Sylvie Yaffe
Earth Day was celebrated all over the world, but
in Thailand it went beyond the usual beach clean up. An exciting
event took place in Phuket; Thailand became the 50th country to
launch a reef ball. This is an important first in the race to
protect the marine environment in Thailand. The Reef Ball
Foundation, together with The Racha resort and Racha Seamaster
Divers are the first in Thailand to make a commitment to this new
reef conservation program. It started on Koh Racha Yai, one of
Phuket's most visited diving sites and will hopefully be copied
through all of Thailand.
It was a learning experience for all
who participated: Phillip Goh, director of Racha Seamaster Divers,
Jesada "Man" Na Ranong, a dive master working there, Sabine Brosch
from Sea Bees Dive Center, some of the staff from The Racha and
myself. At the end of the 4-day program, after completing Thailand's
first four reef balls, we all received our official certification as
Reef Ball volunteers, not to mention some invaluable education about
reefs, making reef balls, handling and saving
corals.
Commited to the environment
The
Reef Ball Foundation was invited to Thailand by the new 5-star
resort and dive shop on Racha Yai. The Racha, which is managed by
Sanctuary Resorts, is a company that aims to be environmentally
responsible. The Racha along with the dive shop at the resort,
Seamaster Divers, have taken the initiative to protect, preserve,
restore, and enhance the reefs at Koh Racha Yai. They have set aside
a budget of two million baht for the initial phase of the Reef Ball
programme.
Representing the Reef Ball Foundation and
providing the training was Todd Barber, C.E.O. and founder of the
Reef Ball Foundation, which is a non-profit, environmental (NGO)
organization. Its aim is to promote the concept of marine reserves
and protect areas around the world while promoting public awareness.
As Mr. Barber said during the first day of the programme, which was
attended by some government officials, "we encourage the dignitaries
here to take as many protection measures as possible."
His
first idea for a reef ball came after covering a beach ball in
cement over 10-years ago. However, after many years of scientific
research and development the beach ball covered in cement has
evolved into a time and cost-efficient concrete reef ball. The
structures usually resemble pyramids more than balls, with a heavy
square base used to anchor them to the bottom and they come in six
different sizes, ranging from 15cm (6-inches) to nearly 2m (6ft).
There are over 3,500 reef ball projects around the world and 500,000
reef balls in use. One huge advance took place when Todd met John
Walch, an expert in coral propagation, and developed a way to
transplant fragmented coral pieces on to the reef ball, giving it a
head start for coral growth.
Even before making the reef
balls, the first step, is to carefully decide were to put them.
After surveying the bay in front of The Racha, Seamaster Divers,
Todd, John and Phillip decided on a sandy area not too far from some
reef, about 8m (26ft)-deep. Todd also suggested putting the reef
ball on top of a discarded old tyre to cover it up. Their goal is to
mimic Mother Nature as much as possible while creating a natural
environment.
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Decorating the Layer Cake. |
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| Fibreglass
To
construct a reef ball a fibreglass mould is used, we used one
brought over from America and purchased by The Racha and Seamaster
Divers. However, it is possible to buy pre-constructed reef balls or
rent the moulds. The mould is three main fibreglass pieces held
together with pins. Inside the reef ball mould, small inflatable
balls are attached to create spaces in the reef ball. A large
bladder surrounded by various sizes of inflatable balls to make
holes, is inflated and placed in the centre of the mould so that the
reef ball is hollow in the middle; this also acts as a flotation
device to ease deployment of the reef ball once it is in the water.
Because a porous surface is best for coral growth, sugar water is
sprayed on the inside walls of the mould to stop the concrete drying
with a smooth surface. The concrete used contains silica and has a
similar pH to natural seawater. The silica helps give the reef balls
an expected life of 500-years or more. When the concrete hardens
there are small indentations, usually one ball will have about 18,
which are used to hold the coral fragments that are
transplanted.
The concrete is mixed and poured into the
mould; we used our hands to help with getting the concrete around
the balls. It took 4-6 hours for the concrete to set. Once the
concrete was set the three pieces that make up the mould were easily
taken apart and a reef ball was born. At first it was not a pretty
sight and it is hard to imagine it being functional - a mass of
concrete, with a rough uneven surface, strange holes and an unusual
shape. It is amazing that this object has so much potential to
improve the world's marine resources and within a few months will be
more than just a lifeless grey object underwater. Within a few weeks
algae will be growing on the surface and it will soon become a
marine habitat.
It was then ready to be deployed into the
ocean. The bladder inside was left inflated to be used to control
the reef ball's decent and make it easier to manage in the water.
Our reef balls, the mini bay balls, weighed approximately 135kg
(298lb). Our reef balls were built on the beach and we rolled them
to the ocean. Once there they floated easily with a little bit of
guidance from Todd and Philip. Slowly they were deflated and sank
down to the sandy bottom. They are designed to be bottom heavy so
they can withstand even heavy storms. Before the balls even hit the
sand the fish were coming around to check out the new structures in
their neighbourhood and determining who would be the first to move
in.
Transplanting doomed corals
Next we
learned how to save and transplant otherwise doomed coral and make
coral plugs, to attach to the reef ball. If coral is broken off the
main growth, and is still alive it can be saved. For it to be saved
it must be placed in a stable location and where it will not get
moved around and where it will not touch other corals as many corals
will engage in their own warfare if they are too close to each
other.
John warned us that we were not accustomed to seeing
what he was about do. He took down a pair of pliers and found
appropriate coral, either dying corals or pieces that were broken
off completely. He cut them into bits about 7.5cm (3-inches)-long,
separated the species and then put them into bags. Back on the
surface the coral was placed in saltwater, even though the coral can
spend a small amount of time out of saltwater once the polyps are
retracted.
We set up a small station that was quickly
assembled by Philip and The Racha staff. It was very basic and
consisted only of a few pieces of plywood with some holes cut out to
fit universal medicine cups, a large plastic ice chest filled with
seawater, the medicine cups a concrete mixture and some sand. This
was the most important part of the training, learning how to
transplant the coral and keep it alive. It took at least four people
in assembly line fashion and did require some mixing skills. Small
amounts of the concrete mixture were poured into medicine cups to
make the base and the coral was placed in the concrete before it
started to harden, which was in about five seconds. Once the coral
fragment was securely placed in the concrete and the concrete
started to dry, or flash as John would say, it was placed back in a
container of saltwater.
Coral Plugs
We
decided to go back into the water for the third time that day to
place the coral plugs in the reef balls. However by this time the
waves and surge had picked up. Luckily we had the experts with us
and John was particularly protective of his new coral transplants.
He went in the Racha Seamaster inflatable and the rest of us went in
scuba to the reef balls. From the boat John put the corals in a
basket and lowered them to us and we carefully placed them on the
reef ball and secured them with a particular adhesive. It was
important to only stick one type of coral on each ball.
There
is another type of reef ball that can be made with the same mould.
This second type does not use the inflatable bladder and is much
heavier, but so much fun to make. Known as the layer cake, it
requires a bit more planning and designing but appealed to the
creative side of the volunteers. It starts with a layer of concrete
and then a layer of sand to create spaces, instead of the inflatable
removable bladder. We also used rocks and some discarded
construction materials like broken bricks to create pillars. But the
recycling didn't stop there: a large empty, plastic bottle was also
"layered" in with the opening on the outside and in the final
product the opening was the only part of it that was visible. The
idea here was to create a home for an octopus. Philip added some
rolled up newspaper to make a complex tunnel system and the top was
decorated with some bits of shells and broken tiles. After about 6
hours the exciting part is the unveiling of the reef ball
masterpiece. After that the sand is hosed off. Just like snowflakes,
no two reef balls are identical.
A large part of the success
is continued monitoring, which can start from the second day. So the
next day we went to see how the plugs were doing. Within 24 hours it
can be determined if the coral will survive. The majority of the
corals we transplanted looked promising. If the coral does not grow
naturally then it will just take a longer time before the reef balls
have natural coral growth. Our initial reef balls were successful
and we were very happy with our progress. Racha Seamaster Divers
invited us to come back and monitor the balls as well.
Solid
commitment
The Reef Ball Foundation will not start a programme
unless there is a solid commitment for continued monitoring, which
has been made by The Racha and Seamaster Dive Shop. "I have never
seen one [a resort] more impressive in its concern for the
environment. This is a great effort" said Mr. Walsh about The Racha.
The plan is that the reef balls will be monitored by the government
authorities and experts in Thailand. The Racha will be a place for
marine studies and a conservation centre. They have offered
accommodation and offices for use by Thailand's marine
authorities.
Now that the initial survey had been done and
some reef balls positioned, the Reef Ball Foundation will begin to
make their long-term plan. The Racha and Seamaster Divers will be
making and deploying reef balls continually and indefinitely. There
will be plans to train volunteers and hopefully more reef balls will
be used to preserve the reefs in Thailand.
It was inspiring
to work with Barber and Walsh, because of their dedication and also
to learn of the possibilities and potential that the reef ball
projects have. Despite mans rapid destruction of coral resources
there is some hope for preserving the marine environment. Thailand
is a top diving destination, but continued efforts such as this are
needed to maintain this
status.
Postscript
After the tsunami I
was relieved to find out that all the staff and guest from The Racha
Resort and Seamaster Divers were safe. Although the resort and dive
shop were damaged, Seamaster Divers is planning to be open in two or
three months. The tsunami did not deter them with their initial plan
to preserve the marine environment outside Racha Island. They are
still fully dedicated to the project. Anyone interested in
supporting the project can contact them. It has also been reported
that the first reef ball, true to its claim, withstood the tsunami
and is still standing upright in the bay. For further information
please visit http://www.rachaseamaster.com/.
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