Progress Report, Sidney BC Pier Project Return To Reef Ball Artificial Reef Index Home Page Scientific Paper on the Project Background (RBCM Press Release) May 8, 1997 Scientists have first peek at artificial reef newcomers Royal British Columbia Museum scientists are in a team that has found sea life flourishing in 270 hollow concrete spheres offshore at Sidney, B.C. It's the first time those spheres, each about two feet tall and three feet wide, have been used to create an artificial reef in northern temperate waters. The reef was laid last fall after residents of Sidney decided they wanted to attract a greater diversity of marine organisms, particularly fish, crab and shrimp, to an increasingly popular public fishing pier on the town's eastern boundary Molds for the balls were donated by Reef Ball Development Group Ltd. in the state of Georgia, which has been involved in the creation of over 100 artificial reefs in Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Bahamas, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, New York and Newfoundland. The installation at Sidney is the first in Pacific Northwest waters. The company made its gift on the condition that the emergence of marine community on the reef be monitored. Volunteers in Sidney manufactured the biologically inert balls from those molds. The federal Institute of Ocean Sciences, at the invitation of the town of Sidney, came up with the framework for a scientific study that could be conducted by volunteers. The Royal B.C. Museum is training volunteer divers in species identification and monitoring techniques so that long-term records can be established of what's happening around and inside the reef. Observations The first observations, made (May 3, 1997), suggest animals and plants are enjoying the hollow concrete balls. Fish, sea stars, nudibranchs and crabs are among the early settlers. The first forms of plant life--the red algae--have arrived. The empty balls, which are each a series of micro environments, appear to provide the shade and protection that is attractive to many marine forms. There will be additional shading in the summer and fall when large brown kelps establish themselves. The studies will continue for another two or three years, depending how long it takes to establish a biological community that appears to be stable. Chris Higgines Royal British Columbia Museum Sponsors: The Reef Ball Development Group and the Reef Ball Foundation The Town of Sidney Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM) Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) Eco-Ed Environmental Youth Team Frank White's Scuba Shop Ltd. Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) Participants: Volunteer PADI divers: J. Bartlett, S. Biggers, S. Boorse, C. Borkent, D. Campbell, J. Carlo, D. Feldman, J. Ritz, M. Hirschbold, M. Kalina, K. Palmer B. Ridout, M. Rutley, K. Sanford, S. Schwann, T. Soley, & D. Zaharychuk N. & K. Panter (Co-ordination) K. Conley (Eco-Ed EYT) P. Lambert, J. Cosgrove, G. Green, K. Sandall, & M. Dickson (RBCM) G. Hemsworth & L. Wedgewood (PADI) B. Smiley, T. Curran, J. Lessard,& R. Russell (DFO) Contacts: Kevin Conley/Brian Smiley, SPARS Co-ordinators (250) 363-6551 smiley@ios.bc.ca Larry Wedgewood, PADI Diver Co -ordi nator (250) 920-5280 Cover drawing: by Elizabeth Bell, grade 1 Brentwood Elementary What is SPARS Acronym for USidney Pier Artificial Reef Science". SPARS is a volunteer-based science project to study and assess a new artificial reef as improved or new habitat for marine plants and animals in Southern Vancouver Island waters. What is the "Sidney Pier"? The pier was constructed in the town of Sidney atthe end of Bevan St.1993-96. The Pier on Bevan Project is a co-operative project by the Sidney Economic Development Committee and community businesses & residents. www.nwis.bc.ca/pages/sidneypier What is "Artificial Reef"? Structures placed in the aquatic environment with the intention of creating or improving habitatfor aquatic plants and animals. Replace habitat lost due to commercial developments such as marinas. What is "Science"? Often defined as the deduction of knowledge through the use of accepted, repeatable methods of monitoring, surveying and/or sampling natural phenomena. What are Reef Balls? Special type of artificial reef utilized for SPARS Plastic molds made and donated by Reef Ball Development Ltd., Georgia, U.S.A. Made of environmentally stable concrete mixtures. Habitat for fish, crabs, shrimp, and many other marine plants and animals. See Reef Ball Homepage History: In 1993, the Town of Sidney envisioned a fishing pier for the people of Sidney to enjoy. The Pier on Bevan was intended by Sidney to enable recreational activities such as fishing, SCUBA diving, nature viewing, & walks down the . . scenic pier. Phase I (~9Om long) of the pier was finished in 1996, and the 100m long phase 11 is scheduled for completion in 1997 making a pier ~180m long in total. September 1996: Fisheries & Oceans was approached by Sidney to assist with monitoring protocols & to conduct an acoustic mapping survey of the reef in the future (Canadian Hydrographic Service). November 1996: 270 0.91 x0.61 m Reef Balls_ weighing 170-340kg each were placed along the north & south sides of the pier approximately 1 Om deep. March, 1997: First survey dive. Start of a multi- yea‡ volunteer performed survey. Brochure (The above section of the web page): by Kevin Conley & Brian Smiley 6/27/97 Dear Todd Barber, I was looking through your Reef Ball web site today and noticed that you have updated the Sidney material with the pictures and graph that I sent you in my earlier message. It gives me great pleasure to see that you and your colleagues at Reef Ball are showing off the Sidney project with pride. I sincerely believe that it is something that all parties involved should be proud of. I thought I would send you some more pictures, of things other than divers holding a seastar ((Pic1, Pic2, Pic3), to give you an idea of what we have growing on our reefs. Although the seastars in the pictures I sent you are quite numerous, there are numerous other types of organisms as well. The image showing relatively bare Reef Balls with a largeish bright white anemone, which experts at the Royal BC Museum say probably tumbled onto the reef on currents from a nearby reef, (spars2.gif) gives you an idea of what the reef looked like in the early days (March 6, 97), although many balls also had a large amount of algae on them at the time. The next picture (fuzzball.gif) was taken a couple months later (May 6, 97) and, as you can see, the Reef Balls are harbouring much more life (other kinds of anemone as well as being completely covered by different types of algae (in March there was mostly just one type). Although the two pictures I've told of thus far were taken of different balls, they were, for the most part, representative of the reef as a whole at the given times. The next photograph (crab.gif) is of a red rock crab (one of the edible crabs in the region, and the target of some commercial, but mostly recreational fishing) that is grabbing onto a Reef Ball in one of its openings. The last picture (squdeggs.gif) is looking into a Reef Ball at a cluster of squid eggs (the Reef Balls are seemingly providing the necessary breeding habitat for many animals including squid, nudibranchs, and several species of fish). I have also included another version of the graph you posted. I have modified the graph to hopefully read easier. The date axis was changed so that it instead counts up the number of days after the Reef Balls were deployed. With that change, the curve equation changed and now makes a bit more sense (to anyone who cares to look at the equation). I don't know if you will want to use this new version of the graph, but I thought I would include it just in case. (Note: the claim: "HALFWAY TO OUR GOAL OF 85 ANIMAL SPECIES!" simply refers to the number of species that we have included on our data sheets for the divers to look for. These 85 species were those deemed conspicuous, easy to identify, and ones that were expected to arrive onto the reef.) Thank you for your time and attention! I look forward to continuing correspondence with you. If you require or desire any information, please feel free to ask (I am still trying to track down some additional video footage so that I may put together a video to send you) Cheers, Kevin Conley SPARS phone: (250) 363-6417 fax: (250) 363-6323 email: conleyk@ios.bc.ca Update to Pier on Bevan Project 3/24/97 To recap. We are now focusing upon the science aspect, as required by your conditions of free loan of the reef ball molds. We have coined the somewhat hoakey name of SPARS, which means Sidney Pier Artificial Reef Science. Brian Smiley of the Marine Environment and Habitat Science group at our Institute of Ocean Sciences has been the prime mover behind the effort. He has hired Nick and his wife Kerry Panter, both biologists, to coordinate the effort (primarily diving based). He also applied to the Province of British Columbia and received a three-month (Jan-March) funding for a Youth Worker, and together Brian and I selected Kevin Conley (24 yr. old), with a title of jr. coordinator. These individuals are responsible for much of the remarkable progress!! The contribution of the Province of BC is truly significant, because it is unheard of for the Province to fund a project with any federal presence. They have obviously been impressed with the progress, because THEY have offered to extend Kevin's term for 3-6 months. Funding Nick and Kerry is a problem.... Nick has involved the world class Royal BC Museum (RBCM), a provincial organization. What are curators, but actually taxonomists (persons that enjoy identifying things)?! Nick also arranged for the Canadian branch of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) to be trained by the RBCM. This involved two classroom sessions at the RBCM, and two test dives. The classroom sessions exposed the divers to scientific nomenclature and identifications, and techniques to follow underwater. The first test dive on March 15 could not have had worst conditions. It was cold and stormy, and in fact snowed (we normally NEVER have snow in March)! Despite that, there was training dive, with good RBCM and PADI participation. As a result, the four underwater forms were modified to include common names of organisms, as well as the scientific names. There is a fifth (surface) form which documents the diver details (adverb answers). The second test dive on Saturday March 22 was well attended, with about a half dozen PADI divers and two RBCM diver-guides. (It turns out that serious divers really want to learn about the underwater organisms, and some have a marine biology background. We may establish a "research diver" certificate, to be presented by PADI, as a motivator). Enthusiasm is very high. On the technical front, we have used a very expensive (Cdn$750,000) swath acoustic system to survey the site. It radiates 120 beams in a 150-degree fan so, in one pass of the boat, measures depths and acoustic intensity of the sea floor. Data processing is in progress. It revealed we have three main features at the site: A strip of reef balls to the north of the pier (AN), a strip to the south (AS), and a large natural reef to the south of AS (NS). This natural reef is much larger than suspected. Also, the artificial reefs are not significantly stacked, nor grouped in as wide a cluster as we dreaded. In fact, the balls are about three wide, and only an occasional one is stacked - just about ideal. We have a current meter read to be deployed. It will record current speed and direction, and water temperature and salinity, recording every 30 minutes for six months. Currents reach about two knots maximum. Also, there is an acoustic link, which will permit students and others to monitor recorded data from the pier, and encourage community participation. This will be deployed within two weeks. I also hope to involve more of the local high technology industry, and couple the naturalist approach (which seems easy to involve) with the physics, chemistry, and technology community. Remains to be seen.... I did not mention that the scientific plan was developed by two people from Nanaimo, a city about an hour away. It was decided with the idea of analyzing the data at a future time. One person (Joanne Lessard) is a research biologist, and the other (Rob Russell) is responsible for permitting and encouraging community-based habitat creation and restoration. They contributed greatly. All for now. Reef Ball's Reefs Around The World Program has provided the city of Sidney BC with molds to construct Reef Balls around the city's new pier project. Here's a letter we got from the Mayor. June 20, 1996 Mr. Todd Barber 7085 Chappell Circle Doraville, Georgia 30360 Dear Mr. Barber On behalf of the residents, Council and the Economic Development Committee I wish to thank you for your valuable donation towards the construction of the Fishing Pier on Bevan. The Pier wil certainly be a welcome addition to Sidney's attraction as both a local and tourist destination and we are most appreciative of your support. The official ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on June 29 and we are expecting a large and enthusiastic turn out. Trusting that at some future date you may be able to visit Sidney and enjoy a stroll along the Pier. Yours Sincerely, Marie C. Rosko, Mayor of the Town of Sidney This page has been accessed times since 4/19/97 Copyright ©1996, 1997, RBDG, Ltd. all rights reserved. See brochure page footer for information on patents, copyrights, trademarks and service marks referenced, but not indicated, on this page.
May 8, 1997
Royal British Columbia Museum scientists are in a team that has found sea life flourishing in 270 hollow concrete spheres offshore at Sidney, B.C. It's the first time those spheres, each about two feet tall and three feet wide, have been used to create an artificial reef in northern temperate waters.
The reef was laid last fall after residents of Sidney decided they wanted to attract a greater diversity of marine organisms, particularly fish, crab and shrimp, to an increasingly popular public fishing pier on the town's eastern boundary
Molds for the balls were donated by Reef Ball Development Group Ltd. in the state of Georgia, which has been involved in the creation of over 100 artificial reefs in Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Bahamas, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, New York and Newfoundland. The installation at Sidney is the first in Pacific Northwest waters.
The company made its gift on the condition that the emergence of marine community on the reef be monitored. Volunteers in Sidney manufactured the biologically inert balls from those molds. The federal Institute of Ocean Sciences, at the invitation of the town of Sidney, came up with the framework for a scientific study that could be conducted by volunteers. The Royal B.C. Museum is training volunteer divers in species identification and monitoring techniques so that long-term records can be established of what's happening around and inside the reef.
Observations The first observations, made (May 3, 1997), suggest animals and plants are enjoying the hollow concrete balls. Fish, sea stars, nudibranchs and crabs are among the early settlers. The first forms of plant life--the red algae--have arrived.
The empty balls, which are each a series of micro environments, appear to provide the shade and protection that is attractive to many marine forms. There will be additional shading in the summer and fall when large brown kelps establish themselves.
The studies will continue for another two or three years, depending how long it takes to establish a biological community that appears to be stable.
Chris Higgines
Royal British Columbia Museum
Cover drawing: by Elizabeth Bell, grade 1 Brentwood Elementary
What is "Artificial Reef"?
History:
Brochure (The above section of the web page): by Kevin Conley & Brian Smiley 6/27/97
Dear Todd Barber,
I was looking through your Reef Ball web site today and noticed that you have updated the Sidney material with the pictures and graph that I sent you in my earlier message. It gives me great pleasure to see that you and your colleagues at Reef Ball are showing off the Sidney project with pride. I sincerely believe that it is something that all parties involved should be proud of.
I thought I would send you some more pictures, of things other than divers holding a seastar ((Pic1, Pic2, Pic3), to give you an idea of what we have growing on our reefs. Although the seastars in the pictures I sent you are quite numerous, there are numerous other types of organisms as well. The image showing relatively bare Reef Balls with a largeish bright white anemone, which experts at the Royal BC Museum say probably tumbled onto the reef on currents from a nearby reef, (spars2.gif) gives you an idea of what the reef looked like in the early days (March 6, 97), although many balls also had a large amount of algae on them at the time. The next picture (fuzzball.gif) was taken a couple months later (May 6, 97) and, as you can see, the Reef Balls are harbouring much more life (other kinds of anemone as well as being completely covered by different types of algae (in March there was mostly just one type). Although the two pictures I've told of thus far were taken of different balls, they were, for the most part, representative of the reef as a whole at the given times. The next photograph (crab.gif) is of a red rock crab (one of the edible crabs in the region, and the target of some commercial, but mostly recreational fishing) that is grabbing onto a Reef Ball in one of its openings. The last picture (squdeggs.gif) is looking into a Reef Ball at a cluster of squid eggs (the Reef Balls are seemingly providing the necessary breeding habitat for many animals including squid, nudibranchs, and several species of fish).
I have also included another version of the graph you posted. I have modified the graph to hopefully read easier. The date axis was changed so that it instead counts up the number of days after the Reef Balls were deployed. With that change, the curve equation changed and now makes a bit more sense (to anyone who cares to look at the equation). I don't know if you will want to use this new version of the graph, but I thought I would include it just in case. (Note: the claim: "HALFWAY TO OUR GOAL OF 85 ANIMAL SPECIES!" simply refers to the number of species that we have included on our data sheets for the divers to look for. These 85 species were those deemed conspicuous, easy to identify, and ones that were expected to arrive onto the reef.)
Thank you for your time and attention! I look forward to continuing correspondence with you. If you require or desire any information, please feel free to ask (I am still trying to track down some additional video footage so that I may put together a video to send you)
Cheers,
Kevin Conley SPARS phone: (250) 363-6417 fax: (250) 363-6323
email: conleyk@ios.bc.ca
To recap. We are now focusing upon the science aspect, as required by your conditions of free loan of the reef ball molds. We have coined the somewhat hoakey name of SPARS, which means Sidney Pier Artificial Reef Science.
Brian Smiley of the Marine Environment and Habitat Science group at our Institute of Ocean Sciences has been the prime mover behind the effort. He has hired Nick and his wife Kerry Panter, both biologists, to coordinate the effort (primarily diving based). He also applied to the Province of British Columbia and received a three-month (Jan-March) funding for a Youth Worker, and together Brian and I selected Kevin Conley (24 yr. old), with a title of jr. coordinator. These individuals are responsible for much of the remarkable progress!! The contribution of the Province of BC is truly significant, because it is unheard of for the Province to fund a project with any federal presence. They have obviously been impressed with the progress, because THEY have offered to extend Kevin's term for 3-6 months. Funding Nick and Kerry is a problem....
Nick has involved the world class Royal BC Museum (RBCM), a provincial organization. What are curators, but actually taxonomists (persons that enjoy identifying things)?! Nick also arranged for the Canadian branch of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) to be trained by the RBCM. This involved two classroom sessions at the RBCM, and two test dives. The classroom sessions exposed the divers to scientific nomenclature and identifications, and techniques to follow underwater.
The first test dive on March 15 could not have had worst conditions. It was cold and stormy, and in fact snowed (we normally NEVER have snow in March)! Despite that, there was training dive, with good RBCM and PADI participation. As a result, the four underwater forms were modified to include common names of organisms, as well as the scientific names. There is a fifth (surface) form which documents the diver details (adverb answers).
The second test dive on Saturday March 22 was well attended, with about a half dozen PADI divers and two RBCM diver-guides. (It turns out that serious divers really want to learn about the underwater organisms, and some have a marine biology background. We may establish a "research diver" certificate, to be presented by PADI, as a motivator). Enthusiasm is very high.
On the technical front, we have used a very expensive (Cdn$750,000) swath acoustic system to survey the site. It radiates 120 beams in a 150-degree fan so, in one pass of the boat, measures depths and acoustic intensity of the sea floor. Data processing is in progress. It revealed we have three main features at the site: A strip of reef balls to the north of the pier (AN), a strip to the south (AS), and a large natural reef to the south of AS (NS). This natural reef is much larger than suspected. Also, the artificial reefs are not significantly stacked, nor grouped in as wide a cluster as we dreaded. In fact, the balls are about three wide, and only an occasional one is stacked - just about ideal.
We have a current meter read to be deployed. It will record current speed and direction, and water temperature and salinity, recording every 30 minutes for six months. Currents reach about two knots maximum. Also, there is an acoustic link, which will permit students and others to monitor recorded data from the pier, and encourage community participation. This will be deployed within two weeks.
I also hope to involve more of the local high technology industry, and couple the naturalist approach (which seems easy to involve) with the physics, chemistry, and technology community. Remains to be seen....
I did not mention that the scientific plan was developed by two people from Nanaimo, a city about an hour away. It was decided with the idea of analyzing the data at a future time. One person (Joanne Lessard) is a research biologist, and the other (Rob Russell) is responsible for permitting and encouraging community-based habitat creation and restoration. They contributed greatly.
All for now.
June 20, 1996
Mr. Todd Barber 7085 Chappell Circle Doraville, Georgia 30360
Dear Mr. Barber
On behalf of the residents, Council and the Economic Development Committee I wish to thank you for your valuable donation towards the construction of the Fishing Pier on Bevan. The Pier wil certainly be a welcome addition to Sidney's attraction as both a local and tourist destination and we are most appreciative of your support.
The official ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on June 29 and we are expecting a large and enthusiastic turn out.
Trusting that at some future date you may be able to visit Sidney and enjoy a stroll along the Pier.
Yours Sincerely,
Marie C. Rosko, Mayor of the Town of Sidney
Copyright ©1996, 1997, RBDG, Ltd. all rights reserved. See brochure page footer for information on patents, copyrights, trademarks and service marks referenced, but not indicated, on this page.