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EGAT, Marines join in artificial reef project

Friday, 01 February 2013 From Issue Vol. XXI No. 5 By Patcharapol Panrak

The Electrical Generating Authority of Thailand is working with the Royal Thai Marines in a project to create artificial reefs in Toey Ngam Bay.

Rear Adm. Traikhwan Krairit and Thana Phuttarangsee, vice governor of transmission systems for the utility, presided over the Jan. 23 event at Prince Chumphon Camp in Sattahip.

EGAT donated 2,400 expired high-voltage insulator bulbs to be sunk in the bay to form the foundation for artificial coral reefs.

EGAT officials and Royal Thai Marines throw overboard high-voltage insulator bulbs to be used to form a foundation for artificial coral reefs.

The expired bulbs were presented to science students at Naresuan University for research on their characteristics and have been found to not be hazardous to the environment, as they are made from soil. Their manufacture, however, creates not only strong resistance to heat, but strength and durability, making them ideal for use in a submerged reef.

This article was published in the Pattaya Mail newspaper on Friday February 1, 2013 (Vol. XXI No. 5).

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1 Comment

Comment Link Saturday, 23 February 2013 04:25 posted by Mike Wallace
Artificial Reefs 101

We’re looking at the hotel and resort experience differently from both the environmental side and the regional tourism side with the addition of artificial reefs for tourism/snorkeling and dive training – unlike any that have been seen before.

Reef Worlds Video

https://vimeo.com/49814173

Reef Worlds is developing complete underwater worlds for tourism and the environment. It’s an exciting and visually stunning new tourism paradigm. The ability to take waterfronts that have no tourism value, areas with sand bed bottoms, or regional areas where no tourism is present and create instant tourism by just integrating objects that take well known design cues (Mayan, Aztec, South Asia) to create engaging worlds underwater.

Artificial Reefs have come of age. Gone are the days of costly ship drops, reef balls, and objects that have little to no tourism value, or value to a much smaller tourism base. With carefully designed and placed regional underwater worlds at depths of 20-40 feet, hotels and resorts can attract the widest audiences and governments can now set up regional tourism offerings in places where the natural environment is degraded.

Example Cancun

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2010/oct/12/jason-decaires-taylor-sculpture-submerged

Fact is if you took a survey of all the PADI, NAUI and SSI divers in the world today and asked them how many dives they had actually done, including the training, the average number is six.

There’s huge waiting market of divers and snorkelers out there who cannot, or should not dive past 40 feet, so the concept of a resort based artificial reef program placed in shallow waters not only addresses an untapped market segment but also reinvigorates waterfronts that currently have no interest to paying hotel guests. It’s time we got off the beach and back into the oceans.

Additionally, 100% neutral artificial reef objects like the ones we are currently building become a haven for wildlife. These sites are quickly inhabited by a wide range of colorful fish and soft corals. These sites also aggregate mass tourism allowing natural reefs offshore to remain pristine.

What we do is the future of artificial reefs.

http://www.reefworlds.com