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Artificial Reefs
Artificial reefs were being made quite some time ago, but the newest addition to this environmental creation and eco boosting production were the nonprofit reef foundations that have been developed. Throughout the world there are so many. These foundations help recreate the destruction of previous reefs and build new reefs to help the eco system under the water so through natural disaster and man caused problems they can help us save the underwater world. The goal of these foundations is to help restore empty sea floor into a thriving marine ecosystem that will become the homes of marine mammals, fish, marine birds, turtles, and other sea life. The other big goal in these foundations is that they would like to lighten the load of population of marine life on the nature reefs so that they are not being over fished and can regenerate all they have lost within the years. There are different ways that a new reef can be made by these foundations they can plant the reef balls that are made of cement with a ph similar to sea water. The other ways the foundations regenerate reefs is by growing coral in offshore farms. There are also wreckages that have been done that are being made into reefs as well. These nonprofits work with volunteers and organizations that will educate partnership, public participation (volunteers), and full restoration; they also are in need of donations due to being a nonprofit. These organizations are becoming more widely known and are becoming more successful due to the amount of help they are receiving. They have made a movement within more than 70 different countries and over 500,000 reef balls have been planted throughout these countries. The reason why these reef foundations are so powerful in today’s world. “As a result of biomass enhancement sediment becomes more active in the process of nutrient regeneration providing a nutritional source for other forms within the ecosystem (Rizzo, 1990), or being exported by water movements increasing the general productivity of neighbouring areas” Falco, M. (2005). Biogeochemical processes and nutrient cycling within an artificial reef off southern portugal. Retrieved from http://198.189.53.33:2085/science/article/pii/S0141113606002170. Not always being a good things, some scientist have found that there is a negative aspect to the creation of artificial reefs. “At a local spatial scale, reefs generally support higher densities of less diverse fish and epibenthic fauna as compared to natural reefs ( [Fujita et al., 1996], [Svane and Petersen, 2001], [Badalamenti, 2002], [Wilson et al., 2003] and [Sargent et al., 2006]).” Campbell, M. (2011). Individual-based modeling of an artificial reef fish community: Effects of habitat quantity and degree of refuge.Retrieved from http://198.189.53.33:2085/science/article/pii/S0304380011004947 One of the nonprofit organizations is the fish reef project. They are out of Santa Barbra, California. “The Fish Reef Project team is comprised of lifelong watermen and women united in a single purpose of making the ocean better. We are fortunate to have a broad array of skill sets including Fisheries PhD. Robert Abbot, marine biologists, freedive spear fishermen, eco tour operators, anglers and folks dedicated to marine conservation efforts.”( http://www.fishreef.org/aboutus.html) Another nonprofit is the coral restoration foundation. They are based out of the Florida Keys. The goals of the foundation are, “The Coral Restoration Foundation Inc (CRF) is a 501 c (3) non-profit conservation organization created to develop off-shore coral nurseries and reef restoration programs for critically endangered coral reefs at local, national, and international levels. The mission of CRF is to develop affordable, effective strategies for protecting and restoring coral reefs and to train and empower others to implement those strategies in their coastalcommunities.”(http://www.coralrestoration.org/CRF/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=49&Itemid=91)