Do You Think We Can Start An Artificial Reef?

[Forsaken77]

With all of the banning and holds going on for exporting corals and fish, I had a thought.

Should, or could, we as members of the R2R community all pitch in a little something for a few man-made reefs in the Gulf? It can be used for study, for growing colonies, ect... Our way of giving something back to our hobby and having access to it.

The last I looked, an enormous cement structure is made, carried out to designated coordinates (which you are allowed to collect from), and left to grow a reef. They run around $10K a pop, but with so many members here, and on other forums, it seems like even a small donation from a lot of people would go a long way. Maybe enough to get a few of these things up and going. It would also be a show of good faith that we're not all about taking, but giving back for our hobby.

This obviously isn't up to me. I just wanted to see if this is something people would be interested in doing. These man-made structures may become the only areas left to collect from, and study, in the future. Not to mention it would help reinvigorate the reef population.

Thoughts?

 

[Fishfinder]

The forum could easily establish an artificial reef. It doesn't take a lot to make it happen. I would be interested in helping out. But the biggest thing is, most of the stuff in our tanks doesn't live in the gulf or the Atlantic. It simply wouldn't survive

 

[BootyPup]

I think this could be a good idea, maybe set up some sort of donation fund on here and just allow everyone to pitch in until the goal is met eventually.

 

[thetonyage]

That's an interesting idea. Crowd-sourcing an artificial reef. I wonder what the legality of it would be though. I'm sure there would be at least some permits involved on top of the $ for the concrete structure plus transportation costs of said structure. Then it would have to be protected in some way from just anyone going and overharvesting or completely destroying it, which I doubt any government agencies would do for free. Possible? Yes. Viable? I'm not sure.

 

[Fishfinder]

the locations of privately funded artificial reef are private. It is possible to have coordinates only available to members. It is completely legal and happens many many times a year

 

[DSC reef]

That's an intersting and great idea.

 

[chefjpaul]

I like the concept.

I think we, as a community, should start stonger via being involved with multiple foundations.

I don't see why we can't develop relations, as a community, getting them involved with our forum, to teach and learn from each other. Help them with their charitable goals.

Institutions like:
project aware,
Coral restoration foundation,
Ocean conservancy,
Amongst Many others etc..


As divers, we try to be involved as much as we can physically, but definitely as much financially as we can.

This could be fantastic relations leading to understanding of our hobby publicly.

Or we buy a bridge and drop it in the sea, the divers of our community take part in.

I was in the Caribbean a couple years ago, and the owner of the dive shop asked me if I was interested in work, (I was wearing a coral restoration foundation t-shirt). They apparently approached him to do some volunteer work on the reef. He just couldn't justify the salary and time of his people. Very unfortunate.

There are many avenues we can take, we just have to (A). Do it & (B). start getting noticed doing so, make just as much noise while contributing to the global causes.

 

[sghera64]

the locations of privately funded artificial reef are private. It is possible to have coordinates only available to members. It is completely legal and happens many many times a year

I believe you, but how does that work legally? Can private people “own” coastal waters. I thought all coastal waters were governed by the parent lands maritime, other national and other local laws. I mean this sounds like mariculture, or mariculture in reverse. It is still subject to local laws.

We can create a reef, but local laws can then prohibit touching, or even diving on it.

This is happening now as others noted. There are orgs trying to rapidly repopulate dead reefs today (CoralRestorationProject, https://www.coralrestoration.org/about).

 

[Brett newell]

I would absolutely donate $ and coral. And also dive as much as possible on to enjoy it mature and such.

 

[ZoWhat]

Not sure how far out the State of Florida owns into the Gulf.

But I'm sure taking on the State of Florida would take many many months to get approved. I would think the ppwrk alone would be as thick as two phone books stacked on each other. Then there's the Lawyer representatives that would have to get involved.

Great idea but dealing with the Government would be a huge undertaking

 

[cracker]

I would think the cost of permits & lease of state lands,(Yes here in Florida You need to submit a business plan etc, etc. ) this is just get on a waiting list . It goes on & on. The cost & illegalities are mind boggling.Now fr an artificial reef the issues are much less. There would be no private collecting. then You would not be allowed to plant any corals that are not native. Check out FWC requirements .
Not saying it can't be done. Just it would take a lot of work & $$$.
Even if you do this in Federal waters, any tranport over state waters then state laws apply. I have looked into this . It's very complicated. Just contact TBS they will tell You all they went thru.

 

[Rispa]

You could talk to Moody Gardens. They might have some insight

 

[Forsaken77]

All the details of where, who will go to it, ect... Would have to be figured out.

We could eventually put one in different parts of the world. I was just seeing about getting it off the ground.

I was actually looking to do it myself but...a) I don't dive, b) it's not local to me, and c) I don't have 10K to spare lol.

I'm sure after a while we could have some representative collect from wherever we do it and maybe have an auction for the pieces or a raffle for the participants of who pitched in. Something so everybody can get a chance if they wanted. Granted, it would probably take about a decade to fully populate enough. But that's not really the priority.

It would also be nice to stick one in the pie-hole of the people saying that aquarium owners are just there to strip the ocean of its wonders.

PROJECT REEF RESTORE!!!

 

[Jr'sReef]

I always wanted to go to the bay and glue some frags and make my own little reef. What scares me is the thought of introducing a non native coral that causes havoc and does more harm than good.

Ive seen it happen here in south Florida with the lion fish, pythons, iguanas etc. don’t know if corals can become so invasive it causes havoc on the native ones... which is why I don’t do it.

It would be neat though to have a R2R Reef

 

[Forsaken77]

I would think the cost of permits & lease of state lands,(Yes here in Florida You need to submit a business plan etc, etc. ) this is just get on a waiting list . It goes on & on. The cost & illegalities are mind boggling.Now fr an artificial reef the issues are much less. There would be no private collecting. then You would not be allowed to plant any corals that are not native. Check out FWC requirements .
Not saying it can't be done. Just it would take a lot of work & $$$.
Even if you do this in Federal waters, any tranport over state waters then state laws apply. I have looked into this . It's very complicated. Just contact TBS they will tell You all they went thru.

So the companies that make, sell, and transport the structures don't already have that stuff? I thought they already owned these locations and basically sell you the unit and coordinates to it.

I think they were located on the Florida Panhandle. But on their site they make it seem like you buy it, they give you the coordinates, you can go and pick from it whenever you wanted.

 

[Rispa]

The biggest problem with doing it in the ocean is you are introducing things from other parts of the world. I think it's far more realistic to essentially make lakes that are turned into reefs.

 

[Forsaken77]

I always wanted to go to the bay and glue some frags and make my own little reef. What scares me is the thought of introducing a non native coral that causes havoc and does more harm than good.

Ive seen it happen here in south Florida with the lion fish, pythons, iguanas etc. don’t know if corals can become so invasive it causes havoc on the native ones... which is why I don’t do it.

It would be neat though to have a R2R Reef

This one I was reading about is just dropping a structure and letting the reef form. You don't put anything in it.

 

[cracker]

The Florida panhandle is in the temperate zone . The corals we want can't live in the cooler waters. Now live rock is a different story.
Take TBS they "lease" under water land from the state. It's not for sale. They are at the extreme north of the tropic zone .

 

[NY_Caveman]

Would it have to be in the ocean? What about an enormous man made structure?

Worlds largest aquarium. Less legal hassles probably.

 

[cracker]

I bet if you lived right on a source of clean sea water, One could have a BAD butt pond where you could grow whatever Ya wanted. Just don't let the FWC hear about it!