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EcoReefs Photo Gallery |
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Welcome! The images on this page are uncropped jpegs for media use. PLEASE NOTE: Large: 1536 x 1024 pixels, 1.5 MB |
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Member of the Bunaken Marine Patrol inspecting an EcoReefs® ceramic module prior to deployment. The mass-produced modules can be used to rehabilitate large areas of damaged reef at relatively low cost.
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Assembled modules ready for deployment. Modules are made from prefabricated components which are bonded together with a marine epoxy.
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Lifting modules into water using a bamboo davit. The modules weigh less than 25kg and can be easily moved without heavy equipment.
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Marine Patrol Officer John Kanteley attaching a liftbag to an EcoReefs® module.
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Marine Patrol Officer John Kanteley and EcoReefs® President and inventor Dr. Michael Moore swimming modules to the demonstration site.
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Marine Patrol Officer John Kanteley using a liftbag to place a module on the reef slope.
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Partially completed demonstration reef.
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Dr. Michael Moore, EcoReefs® President and inventor, moving a module into position.
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Dr. Michael Moore, EcoReefs® President and inventor, inspecting the completed demonstration reef. The modules have shaded settling plates to promote coral settlement and spiny branches to create habitat for small herbivorous reef fish.
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Modules are arranged in an close array to create a spatially complex habitat for small reef fish. To prevent downslope movement, metal rods are used to anchor the modules to the reef sediments.
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Live coral branch tips wired to the modules to demonstrate coral transplantation potential. Within several weeks, transplanted corals encrust the module ceramic and grow new colonies.
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View of the EcoReefs® demonstration reef at Bunaken National Park showing coral transplants. The non-toxic ceramic modules have a naturalistic appearance underwater and provide habitat ideal for small reef fish and young corals.
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View of Manado Tua (background) and the reef wall dropoff at Bunaken Island (foreground) in Bunaken National Park, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
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Loose coral rubble produced by extensive blast fishing. Young corals that settle on this type of substrate are easily killed by algae or sand scour, slowing reef recovery processes.
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Repeated heavy blasting creates vast deserts of coral rubble, resulting in total collapse of the local ecosystem. Recovery timescales for reefs this severely damaged exceed a century.
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Reef fish killed by a blast (Moorish idol, bannerfish, soldierfish, basslet). Blast fishing kills reef fish indiscriminantly, including many small fish that have little or no food value.
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Close up of a table coral shattered by a blast. Powerful underwater explosions wreck even well-established coral colonies that survived many strong storms in the past.
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Closeup of a branching coral thicket destroyed by a blast (and a dead bigeye). Blast fishing obliterates the fish habitat provided by corals.
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Blast crater in a branching coral thicket. Blast craters have a distinctive circular shape. This blast has flattened well-developed reef framework that was about a meter deep.
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Pullers (Chromis) schooling over a branching coral thicket (Acropora).
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High diversity coral community on a Pacific reef. Young thickets of fast-growing branching corals (Acropora) mixed with centuries-old massive corals (Porites).
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Massive Porites surrounded by blasted Acropora rubble. This site was formerly a popular snorkeling destination for Gili Is. resorts (Lombok, Indonesia).
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Diver inspecting a blast crater near a resort area in Indonesia. Community-based management can resolve conflicts between subsistence fishers and dive operators over how reefs are used.
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Coral rubble overgrown by algae. Small herbivorous fish are important because they crop fast growing algae that can kill corals. Lacking shelter, fish abandon the reef and algae soon dominates.
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Last modified: April 11th, 2004 06:34:23 PM EDT.