Artificial Reef Part 2 - Reef Stability and Recycling

I Heart Artificial Reef

296 bottle reefs line TRACC’s reef crest, plus 300 or so at the ribbon reef and another 60 are spattered around the island, at an average of 5 glass bottles per artificial reef, this means about 3280 glass bottles have been recycled as artificial reef material, not including the other bottle reefs used as building blocks in other structures. Add another 50 or 60 recycled tires, the plastic crate reefs, and about 10 HDPE structures such as the Igloos, Tipis, and the Swim through, and you’ve got a proverbial boatload of largely recycled material creating homes and habitats for sea creatures to thrive.

A Turtle Cruising Along some Bottle Reefs

However, the artificial reefs not only provide different niches of habitat and attract fantastic biodiversity, they also provide structural integrity to the island ecosystem.  A healthy reef crest stabilizes the slope of the reef, which in turn prevents erosion.  Structural stabilization of the reef slope is important because it prevents the coral rubble from sliding down thus minimizing the available habitat of the shallow intertidal zone and lagoon, which is important for larval fish, as well as many other shallow water loving creatures – such as the blue ringed octopus. Additionally, it prevents erosion of the beach through causing the waves to break on the reef crest before they reach the beach, minimizing the overall erosion of the island.

Coral Colonizing the Bottle

Long term consequences of a reef crest that is not stabilized include an altered ecosystem resulting from the loss of the beach surrounding Pom Pom Island. Without beach, there is no place for the rather particular turtles who prefer to come to the same beach throughout their whole very long life to nest. Without a place to nest, there is a big possibility turtle populations’ could plummet. As a keystone species, turtles have a high impact on keeping the whole island ecosystem balanced. For instance, Hawksbill Turtles eat sponges, because sponges filter nutrients, they are integral to keeping the waters nutrient concentration in balance. Without a balanced population of turtles to keep the sponges at the right level, there could either be too many nutrients resulting in algae blooms, or too little resulting in a lack of food for other sea creatures, and a total shift in the food chain, which would likely result in the loss of not only Turtles, but an overall reduction in biodiversity. 

3000 bottles, some cement, and a bit of hard work – what a difference it can make in helping ensure a holistically healthy ecosystem full of bustling biodiversity and fantastic diving.

Click here for Artificial Reefs Part 1 - Building New Habitats and Homes

Click here for Artificial Reefs Part 3 Bottle Reef Survey's and Sea Creatures
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If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please 
check our website http://tracc.org or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org 

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google +

More Marine conservation projects

Reef conservation would not be possible without generous financial support from

GEF /SGP for Malaysia who are helping our community activities
and coralreefcare.com who generously provided materials to build the new reefs.

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow their projects on Facebook.

Island Life Part 3 - What I've learned at TRACC

Underwater Construction

It’s been two and a half weeks since I first arrived at Pom Pom Island and the Everest of a learning curve I experienced in my first week has gradually leveled to that of a steadier linear climb up some Chocolate Hills.

I have learned – The underwater signs for nudibranch, grouper, mating, scorpion fish, and crocodile fish. How to make a hammock. The interesting and fantastically strange and beautiful anatomy of the nudibranch, with fluffy gills, spiky cerata, horn like rhinophores, and in some, a special ability to be “solar powered”. There are two distinct populations of Bajau people, land and sea, and that the sea Bajau make a yearly offering to the spirits of the sea through sending a boatful of land goodies down the river. Many words of Bahasa Malay including gila (crazy), ayo (oh my god - used as a general exclamation), and nakal (naughty). How to use a lift bag to move bottle reefs and crates of collected  

The Blue Dragon nudibranch
Photo by Basil Bohn

coral underwater. That planting coral and tending to artificial reefs is a bit like gardening, but you must plant coral with space in between the species so energy is not expended fighting, but growing. The basics of regulator servicing. How the local whiskey sneaks up to give you a bangin’ hangover. How to sit on the Flying Fish, the TRACC boat, a bit on the tip toes to protect the bum from the sometimes harsh motion of the waves. That although much of the coral is reduced to rubble, there are signs of regeneration everywhere throughout the artificial reef and surrounding area. How to mix cement and hammer underwater. Turtle eggs are surprisingly heavy for their size. A week of care and food can do wonders for a malnourished kitten. How to be a real life Baywatch character through the rescue diving course. There are 3 types of seagrass on the house reef and 1717 know types of seacucumbers in the ocean, some of which have teeth in their anus, and sometimes pearlfish live inside them. How fun and enriching it is to be in a place where everyone is passionate about the ocean in one facet or another. That simple living promotes freedom of time and mind. How small tropical fish will come to explore a freshly planted bottle reef within about 5 minutes.  That even those with 100’s of dives, that dive 6 days a week, are still easily excited and happy to dive everyday. That everyone has a story to tell and a bit of awesome strangeness inside of him or her. And that the life I was living three weeks ago seems like a dream light years away and eons ago.

A Storm Brewing in the Sunset

With such a wide world of ocean, practical skills and experience, and people to know and learn about, I don’t expect my slope of a learning curve will ever accumulate in descent.


Previous blogs Island life 1  -- Island life 2 -- More from Lark

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If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

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