May 1999: 10 Reef Balls were successfully deployed just offshore of Castaway's Hotel on the Carribean Island of Dominica by the Reef Ball Coalition and ecotourist participants. This on-going reef building program will continue to have Reef Balls built and deployed by eco-tourists and potential volunteers can find out more at http://www.reefballcoaltion.org The Dominica Minister of Agriculture met with the Coalition and will have the Reef Ball site declared as a protected Marine Reserve/Sanctuary similar to two other reserves already set up on the Island. Reef Ball Development Group actively supports the creation and protecion of Marine Reserves worldwide and is proud to assist in this important project to protect biodiversity of Carribean reef systems.
Meanwhile, the Castaways dive centre on the central west coast has just begun its own artificial reef project using concrete “reef balls”. These hollow honeycomb blocks are cast in concrete and laid along the sand off the beach in front of the resort.
Earlier this year 2 batches of 12 or so balls were cast and sunk, with more to follow. The objective is to lay a continuous chain across the sand to the reef crest 200 metres out to sea.
