Reef Ball Foundation winners in 2001-2004   Best Overall Project 2004: Thailand's Racha Post-Tsunami Coral and Touriusm Restoration Project  Best Overall Project 2003: Maiden Island Antigua Total Reef Restoration Project.  Project included Coral Propagation, Coral Rescue, Mangrove Planting, Live Rock Stabilization, Submerged Breakwater, Fish spawning Pinnacles, Snorkel and Diving trails, Sea Urchin transplanting, 'Layer Cake' Reef Balls, Engineered Anchoring, Local and International volunteers....and over 3000 Reef Balls were built MUCH MUCH MORE.  Best Overall Project 2002: PT Newmount's Minahasa Marine Habitat Enhancement Program Over 3,000 Reef Balls were built using just 2 molds over a 5 year period by the local community and mangroves were planted too. See The Video Here Best Overall Project 2001: PortoMari, Curocao, Carabean Sea PortoMari's project included Reef Balls of all sizes, large volunteer participation from the community and local NGOs, extensive press coverage, an innovative Coral transplant project using imperiled corals, recovery of shallow water reefs destroy almost completely by Hurricane Lenny, private funding from PortoMari with a matching Reef Ball Foundation Grant, an extensive monitoring program including both the Reef Balls and the natural surrounding reefs.  And, of course, the on-going building of Reef Balls. 180 Reef Balls have already been deployed and another 100 are planned for Spring 2002. This project even had a heavy educational component with seminars on corals, reef systems, coral transplanting, press events, kids days and on-going eco-diver training. There is only ONE thing that could have made this a better project...if the reefs had not been destroyed by the storm and the project was unnecessary! Best Scientific Project: MariLim, Kiel Ford, Baltic Sea MariLim was the first to demonstrate that pH adjusted Reef Ball concrete mixes create a better diversity of life on the reef than regular concrete EVEN in NON-HARD CORAL waters. [It has been known for a long time that there was a significant difference in the fouling communities in tropical waters but it was a scientific controversy as to the effect on northern, more hardy species]. Best Innovative Project: Armas Y Soria, Proyectos Y Obras (ASPO), Oviedo, Spain, North Atlantic Sea This project built smaller Lo-Pro Reef Balls widely spaced in 300 feet deep water at a specific geological point where an upwelling occurred.  The design was specifically geared to a bottleneck in the life cycle of the Hake fish.  Larger reefs would attract Hake predators and closer reefs would encourage them to leave the bottom dwelling cycle too soon for higher survival rates.  The innovation was the combination of the field of geology and marine biology to unlock a bottleneck in a species that is considered commercially important.  Best Overall Educational Project: Tampa Bay Watch, Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay Watch uses the smaller sizes of Reef Balls under docks and around sea walls in Tampa Bay to encourage the growth of oysters whose filter feeding abilities help control pollution and improves visibility in the bay. Tampa Bay watch uses volunteers of all ages to help in the programs and has made very significant impacts on the community in both water quality and educational goals. Best Elementary Project: Walker School, Atlanta Georgia, Atlantic Ocean. Wow, did you know that Elementary School Kids...living more than 5 hours driving time from the nearest ocean could learn about reefs, build reef balls and create thousands of pounds of fish life?  These kids in Atlanta proved it could be done.  Even if you have never seen the ocean...it affects your life...this proves we can ALL help.  Best High School Level Project: The Island School, Bahamas.  On the other hand, many of us live on Islands.  The Ocean is our life.  The Island School in the Bahamas helps give young adults the chance to live island life firsthand and to learn about the reef systems by using Reef Balls in a variety of ways.  Here, high school students design their own experiments...adding all kinds of interesting adaptations to Reef Balls.  Ever wondered what would happen if you added floating ropes to the top of your reef balls? What about building your own breakwater...how do Reef Balls really affect waves? These answers and more are being studied every day at the Island School. Outstanding Reef Ball Programs in 1998 Best Overall Program - Ecoplan Brazil's Reef Ball Project Best Overall Project - SPARS (Sidney, British Columbia, Canada) Best Conservation Program - Sarawak, Malaysia project Most Innovative New Application - EMPACA's Grand Dominicus beach creation project in the Dominican Republic. (Honorable mention - Sarasota County, Florida for their use of Reef Balls combined with channel markers and other aids to navigation.) Best Science Project - Oman's Procreator Reef Project Outstanding Reef Ball Contractors - (tie) Reef Innovations and Coastal Reef Builders Best Primary Educational Project - Spanish River High School Reef Ball Project (Boca Raton, FL) Best Secondary Educational Project - Robin Sherman of NOVA Southwestern University for research on juvenile fish recruitment in shallow and deep water using Reef Balls. BACK

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