So
we've finally finished all of the coral pyramids for our 'Artificial Coral Reef
Expansion' and have deployed them by means of longtail, lift bags ..by which
was no mean feat.
Next coral transplants and lots of them!
:-D
Recap –
Junkyard is our artificial reef which is about 400 meters from Crystal Dive
In 2009, Eco Koh Tao
created an artificial dive site from trash that was intended for landfill.
Instead of metal and other substances ending up dumped, burnt or buried, we
recycled it, make it ocean friendly and created structures for coral
transplants and fish aggregation.
9 years later, an
incredible amount of divers enjoying the marine life and the coral nurseries
that we have developed and maintained since its inception.
However, since the dive
site has become so popular, we needed to expand by creating new coral
transplant structures. To raise the necessary funds, Simon set up a fund-raising
campaign on Generosity back in January. Our target was 3000 USD which we’ve now
passed as well as getting donations from various dive schools that use Junkyard
on a regular basis.
5 months down the line, we
have only just finished (by the way it was mostly Simon that did most of the
work) the immense job of building, welding cutting and deploying all or our 36
Coral Pyramids, each one holding minimum of 80 coral transplants! That doesn't
include the hundreds that we will be able to transplant on the connecting
beams.
These structures will serve
many uses, such as research of coral growth, attracting marine life to
them for protection also provide an entertaining and educational experience for
scuba divers. Taking pressure from divers on the natural reef
enabling it to grow easier with less diver impacts and help in the fight
against climate change and coral bleaching.
 |
| One of the first pyramids |
 |
| Deployment |
Birdseye view of what it will look like. The center piece is being done by The Art Rising who contacted me months ago wanting to make a underwater structure in exchange for their Open Water Course, so we thought, why not?!
