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(Letter from Texas Parks & Wildlife to Reef Ball)
Upper Coast Field Office October 5, 1999 Todd Barber Dear Mr. Barber,
The following is a summary of Program's involvement with the Reef Ball project. In the summer of 1997, TPW received nine molds from Reef Ball Development Corporation. With the aid of the Seaborne Corps cadets at Texas A&M University, 132 reef balls were constructed over a four week period in June 1997. One hundred reef balls were deployed in the fall of 1997 at Galveston189/Barr's reef site. Underwater video footage has not been obtained at this site due to limited visibility offshore of Galveston. A recent sidescan of the reef in August of 1999 did not reveal the position of these 100 reef balls in the reef site. TPW will continue to look for these reef balls; and attempt to video tape them when visibility permits us to see underwater. The remaining 32 reef balls were deployed in August 1998, at TPW's Port Isabel/South Padre Island reef site. The video shows the first year's growth on the reef balls deployed at this reef site. Several juvenile reef fish including grouper can be seen living in the reef balls. TPW will continue to monitor these reef balls and provide video footage whenever visibility permits. If you have any questions regarding the information I have provided, please contact me at (281) 461-4064 ext. 30. Sincerely, Jan
C. Culbertson cc: Paul Hammerschmidt, TPW |
