Making lobster reefs

A lobster reef  mould filled with wet cement in ways to create
tunnels caves and crevices

The mould is filled with wet cement and tunnels are made from sand bags and cardboard tubes which will be removed when the cement is set several days later.

see making corfu reef

Taking out the tubes to create tunnels

Turtle reef making - a fish life condominium,
Creating Lobster reefs - deep water apartments
Coral growth on bottle reefs


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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.

Turtle and Lobster artificial reefs

TRACC staff and volunteers have developed the technology to make some larger artificial reefs. These add to our arsenel of techniques to repair reefs damaged by blast fishing.   See a blasted reef here,

See our crate reefs, ribbon reef and bottle reefs here.   The new reefs make an immediate difference to the marine life and we hope the larger structures will attract larger fish species.

The turtle and lobster reefs are comparable to reefballs (a patented technology) but they are a lot simpler and cheaper to make by poor village commuities.

Links here
Turtle reef making - a fish life condominium,
Creating Lobster reefs - deep water apartments
Coral growth on bottle reefs

Part 1 A photo guide to Making a Turtle reef,

The basic turtle shape is covered with mesh for strength

The first layer of cement has moulds attached

The moulds will create holes and openings in the finished reef

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.

Lobster reefs

TRACC makes several types of CORFU reefs which are larger and stronger than the ribbon reef bottle reefs.  The Turtle reefs are mostly hollow and make suitable reefs for schools of fish.  The lobster reefs are very complex internally and have lots of tunnels and passageways,  These are ideal for lobsters, crabs and octopus,

making lobster reefs

first views of lobster reefs before the coral is planted.

rescue and introduction of lobsters to Pom Pom island.

Turtle reef making - a fish life condominium,
Creating Lobster reefs - deep water apartments
Coral growth on bottle reefs



--------------------------------------------


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.

New turtle reefs on the reef crest

The turtle and lobster reefs add to the range of reefs that TRACC builds to repair damaged reef evironments.
More info on reef construction here.

These CORFU (coral reef foundation units) are larger and stronger than the ribbon reef bottle reefs or the bottle clusters and are designed to with stand the waves in the shallowest part of the reef.  These reefs serve the same function as reef balls but they are much more suitable for community reef projects being both lighter and cheaper.  TRACC makes 2 types of CORFU reefs, Lobster reefs and turtle reefs

Turtle reefs shortly after positioning

Turtle reef making - a fish life condominium,
Creating Lobster reefs - deep water apartments
Coral growth on bottle reefs



---------------------------------------------


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.

igloo reef assembly - underwater

under construction

more fun and games were had with the igloo reefs as they were assembled underwater.

You may also want to read about our coral planting for world ocean day or Growth of the branching corals in the coral nursery.  or Step reefs or Bottle reefs or Shark cave reefs or igloo reefs

More blogs about TRACC marine conservation centre   

Videos about TRACC  - Mabul shark week 2015 - White tip reef sharks -

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers  

Creating igloo reefs - on land

under construction

Igloo reefs to attract shoals of fish

The team of Malaysians and international volunteers have been having fun over the past few weeks making igloo reefs for our SGP/GEF project near the Tip of Borneo (Simpang Mengayu). These are bottle reefs attached together by plastic pipe bent into an arch shape and then assembled into an igloo shape. The plastic pipe has a large number of holes drilled in it to make a suitable attachment point for coral fragments which will be fixed by cable ties. These igloo reefs are intended to act as very open shelters to schools of fish.

The igloos were assembled and labeled on land and then the various parts were taken apart to make for easy transport in the boat and underwater.

GEF/SGP with TRACC - Tropical Research And Conservation Center
— at Pom Pom Island

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

finished igloo with the retaining rings positioned
and drilled ready for cbl tie attchment underwater

Making bottle reefs for coral planting

Preparation of the moulds

Artificial Reef preparation and construction is an ongoing process at TRACC, some part of the process happens for 6 from the 7 days of the week.

This week, our Malaysian staff and volunteers were building more bottle reefs in the moulds. The moulds are lined with plastic to stop the cement sticking to the wooden sides or becoming dry by losing all the moisture down into the sand floor. Each mould is about 10ft long, made of a wooden frame. The cement is mixed by the very nice new mixer bought with the support of the Small Grants Programme of the Global Environment Facility (SGP/GEF). The mixture of sand and cement is a wet mortar and we use a plasticizer to give the mixture more workability. The sloppy mortar mixture is poured into the moulds and then the bottles can be added.

Bottle reefs waiting for the cement to set overnight.

Each bottle is pre-cleaned to remove the labels and any residue of contents. We only use bottles which have contained food or drink so that there is no risk of pollution from the bottle contents.

The bottles are rolled in the wet cement mortar so that they have a slightly roughened surface from the cement and sand. When this layer is hard it helps the attraction and settlement of a wide variety of sedentary reef building organisms such as sponges, ascidians byozoans as well as hard and soft corals.

The bottles are worked into the bed of mortar so that they stand upright and are submerged by 3-5 cm in the wet mortar. Generally the bottles are positioned about 7-12 cm apart. If they are too close then it is hard to make the block so that it doesn't fall apart when it is set. If the bottles are too far apart, then the coral fragments or biscuits could move out of the protective ring of bottles and fall into the sand. All sizes and shapes of bottles can be used; from jamjars to ketchup to beer bottles.

finished bottle reefs after the cement has set.

Plastic water bottles are not normally used because they can come out of the cement base when there is wave action. Fizzy drink bottles can be used but we puncture holes near the base so that the cement mortar goes into the bottles and helps to lock them into the bottle reef block. Most of the bottle reefs for coral planting use only glass bottles which are not in short supply. Glass is not recycled in Sabah because of the cost of shipping to Peninsular Malaysia. Consequently there are plenty of bottles which are donated by caring citizens or businesses.

The raw material for our artificial reefs is cheap and plentyful and with photos and videos of the results from our SGP/GEF project near the Tip of Borneo (Simpang Mengayu) and on Pom Pom island near Semporna, will lead to more community action projects around the region using the techniques we are developing to improve and rebuild the reefs close to each village. 

You may also want to read about our coral planting for world ocean day or Growth of the branching corals in the coral nursery.  or Step reefs or Bottle reefs or Shark cave reefs or igloo reefs

More blogs about TRACC marine conservation centre 

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers  

 

Shark cave reefs

This week, our Malaysian community workers and our international volunteers have been making shark hiding reefs. This is the TRACC version of proactive marine conservation. Our philosophy is that if we see a problem, then we should work towards a solution.

From the plastic recycler, we aquired a number of large flat trays which were ideal for the roofs for caves for sharks. We attached crate reefs filled with plastic waste (cutup water bottles) which increases the surface area for sponge and cryptic organism settlement as well as providing a myriad of small spaces for post larval and juvenile fish crabs and other tasty small organisms to hide. The design gives a sheltered cave environment similar to the caves we have seen being used by bamboo and coral cat sharks. The upper surface of the cave and the crate supports will be planted with corals which will eventually completely camoflage the artificial reef structure.

During our surveys, it was noted that there was a lot of food for benthic sharks such as coral cat sharks, brown banded bamboo sharks epaulete sharks and nurse or leopard sharks. Unfortunately the sharks are rare if not completely absent from the reefs where we are working. When the proposed new Marine Protected Area, Tun Mustapha Park MPA is finally gazetted then we hope to witness an increase of fish life as the overfishing is brought under control. With sustainable fishing, we should eventually see an increase in small sharks numbers. We hope that a demonstration of the value of community action such as our SGP/GEF project near the Tip of Borneo (Simpang Mengayu) will lead to more projects around the region using the techniques we are developing to improve and rebuild the reefs close to each village.

The whole assembly of the shark cave reefs is fixed to the sea floor by glass bottle reefs attached to each corner. Because of the size the reefs were assembled on land and then taken underwater in pieces. The various parts were put back together and large cable ties were used fix all he components into place. The area of seabed chosen has considerable wave action so the reefs were staked to the seabed using steel rods. A total of 12 shark cave reefs were made and positioned in three different areas.

The finished shark cave reefs look suitable for lobsters as well as bottom living sharks, only time will tell which marine creatures take up residence.

Crate reefs for larval fish

Crate reef for larval fish recruitment.

Crate reefs were filled with cut pieces of plastic to make many small spaces.  The plastic was recycled from the trash on the beach.  The crate was bedded into cement to make it heavy and to hold everything together.

You may also want to read about our coral planting for world ocean day or Growth of the branching corals in the coral nursery.  or Step reefs or Bottle reefs or Shark cave reefs or igloo reefs

More blogs about TRACC marine conservation centre 

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers