REEFS FOR OCEANS
THE BENEFITS OF ARTIFICIAL REEFS
They improve the population and diversity of marine life at the project site.
Artificial reefs can be created to promote underwater artistic expressions such as the Reef Builders Atlantis Reef Project.
Artificial reefs can help the tourist and diving trades by creating unique underwater structures.
This reef, and the life upon it cannot provide a location for fishermen to fish. However, the marine life will migrate easily as we sit at the edge of the Gulf Stream. The project, which also helps ease pressure on natural reefs, can and will rebuild fish populations to support offshore fishing. The Imagination Reef is situated in No Take Zone, where any type of fishing or removal of marine life is prohibited.
Artificial reefs can be used for educational purposes like those provided to us by the Imagination Reef Project. The way this project is designed it can contain 400 areas, at minimum 12ft. x12ft. and up to 10,000 square feet each.
Unfortunately, we are facing a crisis: our reefs are dying at an unprecedented rate due to ocean acidification and over fishing, coastal runoff and rising ocean temperatures.
Along with ocean organisms such as plankton, coral reefs provide over 50% of the Earth’s oxygen and 17% of all consumed protein worldwide. Coral reefs are, without a doubt, the rainforests of our oceans.
…and they’re dying at an accelerated rate…
In a race to save our oceans, Reef Builders International is building one of the most extensive man-made reefs anywhere in the world, with a very important message attached: Protect The Ocean & Save Our Reefs. The Imagination Reef is located off the coast of Key Biscayne in South Florida. When completed, this reef will provide over 10 acres of habitat to a plethora of aquatic life hiding in holes, nooks and crannies while being fed a smorgasbord of marine nourishment from the 500,000 square feet of surface development.
HOW DOES THIS SAVE OUR OCEANS?
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF BUILDING A NEW REEF WHEN REEFS ARE DYING AROUND US?
ARE WE JUST PUTTING A BAND-AID OVER A BROKEN BONE?
No! Reefs For Oceans will establish the Imagination Reef as an underwater laboratory where with scientists & biologists from around the world we will create the next generation of Sustainable Reef Growth – one that is more resistant to the acidification and heating of our ocean waters. How do we do that? Through the science of assisted evolution and in situ conservation. It may well be that sustainable in reefs can only be saved by assisted evolution.
WHAT IS ASSISTED EVOLUTION?
Assisted evolution is the process by which dedicated scientists have worked to guide and accelerate the evolutionary processes of life in corals hard and soft. At the Imagination Reef, the assisted evolution of corals will encourage fast-track coral growth by:
- Ensuring the transmission of warm-water adaptation genes across generations of coral.
- Exposing our coral to stressful but controlled environments to increase their fitness for survival – also ensuring that their resistance is passed on to future generations of corals.
- Crossbreeding our corals to increase genetic diversity.
- Introducing probiotics and bacterial symbiotic communities to our artificial reef.
IN SITU CONSERVATION AND ASSISTED EVOLUTION
Assisted evolution is the process by which dedicated scientists have worked to guide and accelerate the evolutionary processes of life in corals hard and soft. At the Imagination Reef, the assisted evolution of corals will encourage fast-track coral growth by:
REEFS FOR OCEANS
AN UNDERWATER LABORATORY
Greater than 14 acres of artificial reef, It will be the hub for a network of conservationists who are committed to saving our reefs and spreading their knowledge globally.
This protected space will serve as a laboratory in which marine biologists and marine biology students from universities across the country will gain in situ training and experience, learning directly from the reef. Students will see how we are actively accelerating the evolutionary timeline for our corals, how aquatic life forms symbiotic relationships, and ultimately learn how to reverse the damage our natural ecosystems have suffered.
Just as targeted conservation efforts allow corals to multiply, our support of marine biologists will help bring the discoveries and techniques from our laboratory to the world. Helping reefs to develop resistant marine life that can flourish is an important challenge facing today’s marine biologists, and certainly those of the future.
Getting student marine biologists out of the classroom and into the water is where Reefs For Oceans comes in. We hope you will support us in this most important mission.
