Tourism Trend Setters – Attractions That Create Vacation Memories and Revenue

Global tourism is getting back on track and all indications are showing a return to vacation night stays at beachfront hotels and fractional ownership around the world. Once again the industry is grappling with the age old questions of consumer engagement and vacation memory creation branded to resort properties.

Artificial resort reef design

“It’s a no brainer for us,” says Dave Taylor Director of Development at Reef Worlds, an L.A based underwater design and development company.

“There’s an estimated 500,000 square miles of accessible ocean front sitting right off main stream hotel chains and fractional ownership resorts  that no one has built any engagement with. The resorts who own these spaces still consider the high tide mark their responsibility. The end result are waterfront spaces that no one wants to snorkel on, or dive on, worse yet spaces that wildlife, (the reason people engage with the water), are leaving because of environmental neglect.”

Dave Taylors design and build team are avid water users and have traveled extensively around the world to discover the state of resort waterfronts in 2012 and their report was not pretty. “We found old tires, garbage, sand bottoms, broken coral, and wildlife that was barely hanging on. In short not a place you would want to grab a snorkel kit and go explore and these were 5 Star developments and time share properties .”

Reef Worlds solution is simple. Take the concept of an artificial reef, typically rock tailings, rip rap, and or concrete shapes that had no tourism value and fundamentally redesign the concept to create entire worlds underwater for tourism and wildlife. Reef Worlds harnesses 5000 years of human design elements with a touch of Hollywood magic to deliver underwater experiential sites that capture and hold mass tourism within a resort developments own footprint while creating a haven for regional wildlife.

They are also designed as revenue generators from the day they are placed with on site.

Tourism Revenue 101

“Snorkel rentals have some compelling numbers behind them. A typical snorkel set rents for $20-30USD a day, and at just 100 sets a day you’re looking at close to a million dollars in revenue generation for the resort. Add to that habitat creation with the increase of bio mass and colorful fish to your waterfront. But the Holy Grail of Reef Worlds are the newly branded vacation memories for your clients and their entire family in a way that is practically maintenance free. Try getting all that from a land based water park.”

Reef Worlds is in design and build stage with several 20 acre waterfront sites with site openings in tandem with new developments at the end of 2014 and 2015.

“We’re breaking every tourism paradigm there is right now with Reef Worlds. Tourism is coming back in a big way and today’s client is not the same one we saw in 2007, they are networked, social media savvy, and want experiential adventures they can share easily with friends. They also want a return to wildlife engagement and that’s something we’re helping with one unique and iconic underwater site at a time.”

If You Build It

Habitat creation is important for regional wildlife. Many resorts worldwide are suffering from extensive habitat loss underwater. Reef Worlds builds the kind of large structures that attract soft coral growth, herbivorous fish, and schooling fish species. Reef Worlds design teams also employ marine biologists and fish ecologists to design underwater worlds that also act as instant habitat creation.

“The next decade will be all about who has the ability to create an emotional connection with their client base. After all, one beach is the same as the next beach and you can only add so many swimming pools and land based attractions before you start running out of space. Our message is simple, start building underwater and discover how easy it is re-engage your clients and get them to use social media to spread the word about your resorts.”

About Reef Worlds

At the intersection of art, science, and the environment is Reef Worlds. When a unique team of film and television designers, dive site developers, and marine biologists got together they dreamt of a better way to experience the undersea realm. 

The result was Reef Worlds. 

For more information about Reef Worlds:

Visit their website www.reefworlds.com
Call 323.863.5085
Send an email to developer@reefworlds.com

[BIG] Idea - How Resort Based Artificial Reefs Save Mangroves

A Blacktip shark hunts in a Mangrove nursery

Let me begin by saying that "artificial reefs" cannot save mangroves - there, I said it.

But "monetized artificial reefs" can save mangroves by creating new and sustainable revenue streams that are used for a wide variety of regional conservation programs.

They can financially support coral transplant programs and foster reef educational centers.

Monetized artificial reefs can create tourism in places where natural reefs are not present or where natural reefs have been devastated by coral bleaching, dynamite fishing, runoff, and tourism over use.

It's a distinction that is often missed in the fast paced world of oceans conservation - money - or the abject lack of it in conservation hampering great projects in the field, like mangrove restoration.

Where Did All The Conservation Money Go?

It's a big question but it comes down to this. There are more channels today accepting limited conservation dollars than ever before. Additionally, the conservation communities reliance on negative fundraising has created a level of exhaustion in the donor community never seen before.

Sometimes bad news is just too much bad news. Compounded by social media bad news becomes a never ending torrent turning would be donors off in the process. We need to rethink the process.

For that to happen the conservation community will have to embrace and get behind sustainable monetization projects that are smart and science based securing the funding needed for long term oceans projects.

500 Million Reasons For Monetized Artificial Reefs

What's actually killing reefs?

It's a stunning statistic.

Globally an estimated 500+ million tourists use resort based reefs and near shore habitats while less than 2% of resorts and hotels around the world have coral reef sustainability outreach/education programs.

Essentially resorts and hotels around the world get to use a natural resource with no direct engagement towards its future health.

Near shore reefs and habitat tend to encompass the five to ten acres in front of the worlds top 5 star properties.

Worse yet, near shore reefs in the Caribbean are vanishing, and this is a global phenomenon. With near shore reef loss goes a $3 billion dollar scuba and snorkel market that is willing to travel great distances to use the last pristine reefs on the planet. The Maldives are a prime example of this migratory tourism trend.

Why Resorts Don't "Do The Right Thing"

It's a question we get asked a lot. Knowing that near shore reefs are becoming extinct, one might expect that resort developers and management companies would, "do the right thing" and set aside the millions of dollars needed to rehabilitate near shore habitats, seagrass beds, and yes, replant mangroves.

What planet are you living on?

Resorts and hotels are a business first and foremost, many of them beholden to investors seeking a year over year return. For the past 50 years resorts and hotels have largely ignored anything past the high tide mark in lieu of water parks and golf courses on land. They routinely spend millions of dollars on resort based landscaping for reasons that are simple - ROI. Investment in the oceans at the present time do not deliver the kind of immediate and street satisfying ROI that a branded water park does. Hard fact, but one that innovation can change.

Changing The Perception

Florida AR data

Artificial reefs work. The data is in, they do everything they promise and more. The problem is packaging. For resort developers to spend money on artificial reefs they will need an ROI, and you just cannot get an ROI on the typical artificial reef design that is in the field today.

Reef cubes, triangles, balls and more do not attract the valuable scuba and snorkel market which in turn delivers enhanced resort ROI's. They are great design for wildlife, but they cannot generate an ROI high enough to justify massive investment at a time where massive investment in near shore resources are needed.

But there is a caveat here, actually several caveats.



Enter "The Study"

At times when you are unsure about a tourism concept or product, look for a research study. Fortunately there are plenty to go around. From Florida to the Maldives and back new research data is pointing towards an exciting trend in scuba and snorkel perceptions about artificial reefs and habitat. Namely, water users will actually pay more for underwater tourism projects that directly support the regions habitat, also they prefer artificial reefs that are "interesting to look at," like airplanes, boats, tanks, and art reefs.

In essence these studies are the key to resort ROI and a reason for resorts and hotels to invest in artificial reefs and near shore habitat as they do with landscaping. We need to change the design and packaging of artificial reefs for resorts so they in turn can make the kind of dollars needed to offset the initial investment in their oceans.

The Art Reef Design, Resort Engagement ROI

Arts and culture reefs are new. They fuse both cultural art concepts and artificial reef concepts to create spaces that are fun to explore, deliver stunning social media ready visuals, and can be fully branded and more importantly - monetized. In places like Cancun, art reefs designed by artist Jason DeCaires Taylor have transformed entire tourism zones from non productive, to thriving, supporting tourism, habitat, and more. Art and culture reefs are the cornerstone to an underwater revolution.

In Dubai a 5 acre site in development will change the way art reefs are designed and packaged forever. With resort based art reefs new revenue streams can be used to assist and even develop other regional habitat projects like coral transplant, habitat reconstruction, and yes, mangrove replanting.

It all comes down to sustainability and money.

Envisioning "habitat tourism"

We're at an interesting crossroads in 2015. On the table are serious oceans conservation issues that are all tied directly into human impact.

Additionally, most of, if not all oceans issues are "out of sight, out of mind."

Getting people to pay attention and even act on behalf of reefs is a tough uphill battle being fought by many wonderful coral NGO's around the planet on a daily basis.

The good news is 500+ million resort guests use reefs each year around the planet. That's 500+ million opportunities to directly engage, educate, and activate.

A subset of this group have indicated they are actually willing to pay more for habitat development projects. It is not a far stretch to suggest this number is actually much higher. All that is needed are smart programs that plug into this massive migration of humanity, programs that focus on resort ROI, habitat, education, and media.

In Summary

Resort based investment in near shore reefs is smart. The next generation of resort house reefs will be focused on rehabilitation, art, and culture which in turn will generate new revenue streams and habitat. Sustainable programs that also "double down" on regional programs like mangrove habitat reconstruction and set aside areas will directly benefit the resource.

We have the tools, the studies, the bodies, and the more importantly millions of square acres of resort and hotel waterfronts that could be monetized with net ecological benefits that will resonate for decades.

Who's interested?

Patric Douglas CEO

Dead coral reefs, rethinking Caribbean tourism

Pool based Caribbean vacations?

It's almost ironic that 50 years ago resort developers across the Caribbean built developments that touted "the oceans" as one of their primary features.

Access to stunning natural reef systems, large and inquisitive groupers, and a lifestyle that was about what we call the, "Resort Tri-Fecta," Sun, Sand, and Ocean.

That was 50 years ago.

Today, most Caribbean resorts have all but abandoned the oceans, building more lavish and complex land based amenities instead. Resort developers look at the high tide mark as their last responsibility to any given property, everything after that is - dead space.

This has given rise to catastrophic and systematic near shore reef loss.

Over the past 50 years a whopping 70% of near shore reef systems across the Caribbean are considered dead, dying, or in serious trouble. A recent decades long study from the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) reported 50% of all Caribbean reefs gone, and we may be facing a massive coral extinction event as early as 2030.

The Caribbean is home to 9% of the world’s coral reefs, which are one of the most diverse
ecosystems on the planet. Caribbean reefs, spanning a total of 38 countries, are vital to the region’s economy. They generate more than US$ 3 billion annually from tourism and fisheries and over a hundred times more in other goods and services, on which more than 43 million people depend.

50 years of development indifference before/after

That's the bad news, the good news is we can begin to reverse the changes with smart and innovative technologies designed for both tourism and the environment.

Just because resort developers have abandoned the oceans, offering bigger and more intricate land based amenities as a substitute, does not mean the market for ocean based exploration has diminished. In fact, globally, the market for both scuba and snorkeling is a robust $3 billion dollar market.

This market is savvy. It's members are connected to social media, they are very environmentally conscious, and they will spend premium dollars in places where reefs are pristine and ocean wildlife is available to them as it once was in the Caribbean. The rise of Maldives tourism is a prime example.

The time for a reassessment of resort based engagement with the oceans is now.

Habitat tourism zone on resort waterfront concept

At Reef Worlds, we envision a "return to the oceans" by resort developers and resort management companies across the Caribbean.

For many resort developers the sudden discovery of two-five acres of "monetized space" comes as a shock to them.

These spaces beyond the high tide mark were once considered places where natural reefs would eternally provide "free entertainment" to guests. As these spaces have withered and died for lack of management, much like land based gardens which resort tend to on a daily basis, the rise of man made, "Art Parks and Habitat Tourism" zones designed to create habitat for a wide range of regional wildlife is just beginning. It is the solution to a 50 year old tourism blind spot. 

Artificial reefs work. In the State of Florida artificial reefs are the backbone to a $250 million dollar tourism juggernaut. They have proven over the years to create habitat, support fisheries, and create tourism opportunities.

Artificial reef design is exploring new ways to create both habitat and exciting diverse near shore sites designed for both tourism and the environment. We call this new design, Dynamic Reefs.

Resort development across the Caribbean sits in front of over 300,000 square miles of spaces that could be "rehabilitated" with Dynamic Reefs. Imagine these as mini marine protected zones that also acted as tourism centers, educational centers, and revenue centers for resorts.

The technology, tourism need, and now clear indication from years of research that unless we do something we will lose what is left have created a "perfect opportunity storm" for developers and resort management companies to act.

We could, in just a few years, create thousands of square miles newly monetized habitat spaces in front of developments now in operation, changing the underwater landscape for generations to come.

Or we could continue on the same path we are on now.

The Navy’s New Robot Looks and Swims Just Like a Shark

The American military does a lot of work in the field of biomimicry, stealing designs from nature for use in new technology. After all, if you’re going to design a robot, where better to draw inspiration than from billions of years of evolution?

The latest result of these efforts is the GhostSwimmer: The Navy’s underwater drone designed to look and swim like a real fish, and a liability to spook the bejeezus out of any beach goer who’s familiar with Jaws.

The new gizmo, at five feet long and nearly 100 pounds, is about the size of an albacore tuna but looks more like a shark, at least from a distance. It’s part of an experiment to explore the possibilities of using biomimetic, unmanned, underwater vehicles, and the Navy announced it wrapped up testing of the design last week.

The robot uses its tail for propulsion and control, like a real fish. It can operate in water as shallow as 10 inches or dive down to 300 feet. It can be controlled remotely via a 500-foot tether, or swim independently, periodically returning to the surface to communicate. Complete with dorsal and pectoral fins, the robofish is stealthy too: It looks like a fish and moves like a fish, and, like other underwater vehicles, is difficult to spot even if you know to look for it.

Complete story from Gizmondo. 

The Coral Whisperer and Dying Reefs

 Photo by Jackie Riccardi

In a sanctum that few outsiders glimpse—the laboratory at the New England Aquarium—Liz Burmester pushes through two swinging doors signed The Coral Room (or the Room of Requirement). The parenthetical, a reference to the ever-morphing chamber in the Harry Potter books, attests to the room’s multiple purposes. Mesmerizing blue blubber jellyfish live here, for example, but the room is mainly about coral.

Against one wall, 16 fish tanks, stacked on two parallel shelves, hold trays containing 400 Astrangia poculata (northern star corals) for Burmester’s experiments.

Burmester (GRS’16) dons a white lab coat and protective glasses and takes a small specimen of a coral colony to a work counter. Using a scalpel, she scrapes a tiny bit of tissue from the colony, then cleans the wound with a Waterpik. Depending on this coral’s resilience, it should heal over the next 30 to 60 days.

“I feel a little bad about it,” Burmester, a vegetarian, says of the infliction, even though she knows that the coral’s primitive nervous system almost certainly can’t feel pain, and its cousins in the wild endure all sorts of injuries from predators, storms, and humans. Burmester talks like a loving pet owner about these animals that look like rocks. “We feed them shrimp in a slurry,” she says. “It’s pretty cute. We use a turkey baster.”

Corals are nature’s mishmash: animals with stony skeletons and a plant-like hunger for sun-derived energy, obtained from symbiotic photosynthesizing algae living inside the coral. Dubbed the “rain forests of the sea,” coral reefs house up to 25 percent of marine species—including an estimated one-tenth of the fish eaten worldwide—and that’s just the beginning of their beneficence. They shelter coastline communities against storms and hurricanes; they’re a source of proteins that appear to block HIV infection; and they’re tourism magnets, with the United Nations estimating that a square kilometer of reef powers at least $100,000 of business annually.

Yet around the world, coral reefs are dying. Pollution, coastal development, harmful fishing practices, and warming and acidifying waters from fossil fuel emissions have conspired to threaten 75 percent of reefs worldwide, a percentage expected to swell to almost 100 percent by mid-century, says John Finnerty, a College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of biology. He is a faculty mentor to Burmester, who studies A. poculata in hopes of finding better diagnostic tools for sick reefs. Her work is part of a collaboration, called Coral Whisperer, between BU and the Virginia-based environmental group Conservation International.

Complete story here. 

Cayman Islands - Dredge to Reefs Solution?

There's a battle brewing in the Caymans over cruise line port expansion. On one side environmentalists concerned for reef systems, on the other, business interests looking to increase regional tourism capacity.

"A warning from a diving legend that constructing a new cruise pier could be the death knell of an important part of the island’s tourism product. International Scuba Diving Hall of Famer Neal Watson points to the newly-opened cruise pier in Bimini, Bahamas, and the destruction dredging for that pier has caused. That 1,000 foot cruise pier is now operational in Bimini, meaning passengers on Resort Worlds Bimini’s Superfast ferry can now skip the tender."

Cayman’s plan to build two cruise ship piers calls for an estimated 820,000 cubic yards of dredging material to be created - that's a lot of material.

Artificial Reef Solutions

820,000 cubic yards of dredge could be “fixed it in place” by creating a series of artificial reef art structures and additional reef habitat for use around the Cayman Islands. Artificial reefs work, and next generation Dynamic Reefs companies like Reef Worlds design and create habitat tourism spaces that revive underwater tourism regions around the world.

 

The amount of proposed dredged material mixed with a low PH concrete could create an additional 10-16 sq miles of marine habit for the Cayman Islands. Building new marine habitat with dredging spoils that create exciting tourism spaces along coastlines is in the best interests of both commercial and conservation in the Caymans and across the Caribbean.

www.reefworlds.com

Artificial Reefs, Underwater Structures, Design Revolution

Underwater 'habitat tourism' scale test

Artificial reefs are man-made underwater structures typically built to provide a stable habitat for marine life, but they can also provide some of the world's top diving destinations. 

 

Next generation reefs are also know as 'Habitat Tourism' sites or 'Dynamic Reefs.'

 

Because they are often made from things like scuttling old ships and other defunct structures (such as tanks or subway cars), they supply divers with an opportunity to swim with marine life and a majestic view of sunken history. 

 

Some artificial reefs are otherworldly structures built by design teams, such as the one seen here - Reef Worlds  - "The Pearl of Dubai." 

 

Resort developers around the world are just now realizing they have unused acres of waterfront spaces beyond the high tide mark where the creation of new habitat and client engagement is good for the bottom line.

 

Read more here. 

Artificial Reefs - A "Pro Development" Environmentalist?

Endless artificial reef design possibilities exist

When asked to describe myself and our company invariably we say we're, "Pro Development Environmentalists."

As you can imagine that term raises eyebrows on both sides of the great development and environmental divides. But, stick with me here, because there's a method to this madness and in the end it works for everyone - yes everyone.

Back in 2005 our little team of tourism experts, film and TV designers, and marine biologists looked at the state of the oceans and discovered an alarming trend. Coral reefs were vanishing.
By 2008 estimates assembled from coral reef specialists from around the world indicated that 19% of the existing area of coral reefs has already been lost. Today, only 46% of the world’s reefs can be currently regarded as in good health.

The threat to the health of reefs is particularly strong in Southeast Asia where 80% of reefs are endangered, blown apart with dynamite, poisoned with cyanide, and drowned under development runoff from the land.

We looked at reef loss from the resort tourism side, what we discovered after a year of travel to some of the worlds top 5 Star waterfront resorts was, in a word, shocking.(Pay close attention big chain resorts, this next bit is aimed squarely at you and your global waterfront resort footprint.)

We found most 5 star resorts had 2 star waterfronts, places with broken bottles, old tires, dead coral and few fish eking out an existence just off pristine white sand beaches and $800 a night rooms.
Thus was born a company, Reef Worlds, that sought to stem the tide of reef destruction by leveraging resort developers to create 'Habitat Tourism' spaces off their resort waterfronts.

Sounds crazy? Not really.

These spaces are created first and foremost as mini marine protected areas, or what we call Dynamic Reefs - but here's the catch, they are designed for regional tourism, they are paid for by tourism dollars, and the media loves them.

Artificial reefs are boring. There, I said it, and the world didn't end.

They really are, who wants to snorkel or dive on a chunk of concrete shaped like a triangle? Certainly no one who's paying $800 a night for a resort room. But, redesigned to look like a 'lost city' or an 'art garden' or 'cultural artifact site,' and now you have new resort revenue streams, experiential client engagement, green media, and best of all - habitat. Acres and acres of new wildlife habitat.

And it works, take a look at this amazing site in Mexcio.

So, when we say we're "Pro Development Environmentalists," take heart. We see pressing problems and find unique ways to create tourism and habitat spaces where none previously existed for the benefit of everyone. Including those with credits cards and those with full time fins.

Artificial reefs work, they are the cornerstone to habitat stop loss across the USA, Europe, and Asia, what's missing is the realization that resort developers have a much wider responsibility to the spaces beyond the high tide mark.

Spaces that they could be seeing new revenue, media, and client engagement with tomorrow - because the day after tomorrow might be just one day too late for the

Caribbean political, business leaders meet on Branson's private island to discuss conservation

KINGSTON, Jamaica –  In a bid to safeguard biodiversity and the Caribbean's tourism-based economy, regional political leaders and corporate executives will gather Friday on billionaire Richard Branson's private island with the aim of protecting 20 percent of the region's coastal resources by 2020.

Participants are expected to announce various commitments to advance the "Caribbean Challenge," an initiative that is touted as the first comprehensive conservation endeavor in the region of scattered islands that has 10 percent of the world's coral reefs and some 1,400 species of fish and marine mammals.

To safeguard the Caribbean's future, Branson says politics and business-as-usual will have to change. The adventuring CEO and founder of the Virgin Group of companies is co-hosting the meeting of political and business leaders at Necker Island, his home in the British Virgin Islands where he has developed an ultra-exclusive eco-resort that showcases renewable energy technology and reintroduced flamingoes.

"It's just so important to get every single Caribbean country 100 percent behind protecting the wonderful sea life and the wonderful reefs and mangroves, and therefore the species that occupy our oceans," Branson said in a phone interview from the island.

British Virgin Islands Premier Orlando Smith and Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell are also co-hosting the gathering of delegations from nine Caribbean countries, chiefs of resort companies and cruise lines, representatives of the World Bank, United Nations and other international bodies, private foundations and environmental groups.

The Nature Conservancy, an international conservation group headquartered in Virginia, is helping to sponsor the summit and has been providing technical assistance to participating governments for years. The conservancy touts the Caribbean Challenge, begun in 2008, as among the world's most ambitious conservation initiatives.

"The Caribbean is truly paradise under threat, and today's focus is a critical step toward a brighter future," Glenn Prickett, chief external affairs officer with the Nature Conservancy, said in an email.
If the Caribbean, the world's most tourism dependent region, takes strong steps now to protect its natural resources, conservationists say it will put itself in a far stronger position to protect its small economies and cope with future threats from climate change and ocean acidification due to greenhouse gases.

The challenges are many in the ecologically stressed Caribbean, which covers some 10,000 square kilometers (3,860 square miles). Once brilliant coral reefs have lost their luster due to warming waters and disease. Live coral cover has plummeted to an average of just 8 percent from 50 percent in the 1970s, the International Union for Conservation of Nature says. Three-fourths of the reefs are considered threatened, also degraded by overfishing, runoff pollution and coastal development.

"In the past, the Caribbean has not been great at protecting the eagle rays and the sharks and the reef fish and so on," Branson said.

Some of the Caribbean Challenge's participating countries — Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and the British Virgin Islands — have already taken steps to reach their conservation targets.

The Dominican Republic has actually exceeded its 20 percent goal by creating more than 30 new protected areas in recent years. The Bahamas established the largest marine protected area in the region by expanding a national park in Andros from 185,000 acres to 1.28 million acres. Jamaica has set up several "no-take" fishing sanctuaries.

But there are questions about how deep the political will really is in a region with heavily indebted governments. Political leaders have long spoken about the need for protecting coasts, developing alternative energy sources and diversifying tourism-dependent economies but little has been accomplished. One country, Antigua & Barbuda, recently dropped out of the initiative for reasons that are not clear.

Branson said strong conservation efforts would pay off for years to come for a region where 70 percent of the people live in coastal settlements and a $20 billion tourism industry provides more than 2 million jobs.

"Many, many people who come to the Caribbean come because they want to enjoy the reef, they want to see the sea life on the reef," Branson said. "And therefore they want to see it better protected."

Volusia County Artificial Reef Seminar

Artificial Reefs are also known as Dynamic Reefs when applied to resort development waterfronts and tourism.

At Reef Worlds we have been leading the Dynamic Reef Revolution.

 Volusia County Artificial Reef Seminar

The Volusia County Port Authority, Ponce Inlet District, The Marine Science Center, The Halifax Sport Fishing Club and the Volusia County Reef Research Dive Team presented a seminar about the Volusia County Artificial Reef’s on Saturday, April 6, 2013. The presentation was held in Daytona Beach at the Volusia County Lifeguard Headquarters, Administration Center on So. Atlantic Ave.

Joe Nolin, manager of the county’s artificial reef program, Chad Macfie, Senior Aquarist, Marine Science Center, Capt. Don Martin, President Halifax Sport Fishing Club and Joe Knott, President of the Volusia County Reef Reseach Dive Team were the speakers for the program.

The program was divided into three sections with Chad Macfie first discussing via: a power point presentation, the rationale behind artificial reefs and their construction. Capt. Don Martin with a power point presentation discussed the next section on safely traveling offshore, finding the reefs, and fishing the reef’s. Winding up the morning was Joe Knott discussing the history of the Volusia County Reef program and the involvement that the Ormond Anchor Chasers and the Halifax Sport Fishing Club had and continue to have in the construction, and monitoring of the reef’s.

Video’s were shown of the reef’s through the year’s and the marine life that these reef’s attract.

Read more: http://www.floridasportsman.com/2013/04/08/volusia-county-artificial-reef-seminar/#ixzz2QGwO80bN

Reef Worlds in Caribbean w Dynamic Reef Projects

The Reef Worlds team is in the Caribbean for the next 20 days on site visits and dream design for six new projects slated for 2014.

The local weather has been fantastic here on Aruba and we're looking forward to next week and a new round of travel and snorkel and dive adventures.

You can still reach us at developer@reefworlds.com and for existing clients our sat phones are working.

In the meantime we are also enjoying the local flavor. This week it's "fresh conch and greenies" one of the best travel combos we have ever tasted!

Happy Easter to everyone.

Artificial Reefs for Marine Life?

Typical dynamic reef location for tourism and environment

Artificial Reefs are also known as Dynamic Reefs when applied to resort and development waterfronts.

At Reef Worlds we have been leading the Dynamic Reef Revolution.

Artificial Reefs for Marine Life

Things sink. Everyone knows that. The bottom of the ocean is covered in things that have sunk throughout history. But sometimes people decide to sink things on purpose to create an artificial reef. It could be a few cinder blocks, tires, movie sets, an old freight container, or an entire train. Whatever is sunk, it is sunk with the purpose of promoting marine life.

Artificial reefs can be made in any coastal waters. When an artificial reef is sunk, it makes a great location for species like algae, barnacles, corals, and oysters to attach and make a new home. Over time a lively reef forms and provides great fishing locations, idyllic scuba diving sites, and superb marine habitats.

Unfortunately around the world coral reefs are suffering. Global warming, over fishing, pollution, rising sea level, inexperienced divers, and much more are quickly killing the ecologically fragile and diverse reefs. Artificial reefs are a good way to help these abused reefs regenerate because they relieve stress from reefs that are overwhelmed by human and sea life impact. Someday those abused reefs may thrive again.

Artificial reefs help attract divers away from the fragile ecosystems of natural coral reefs by providing them with new alternative reefs to explore. Artificial reefs are often created on shipwrecks; a type of diving that already is alluring for most divers. In fact, many old Naval ships, after they are decommissioned, are now being sunk to create artificial reefs and promote marine life. It’s actually more politically, environmentally, and economically cheaper to do this than take the ships apart for scraps.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, even gives guidelines on how to prepare your boat, car, or plane if you want to sink it and make an artificial reef. Several privately owned companies are creating jobs specifically for this niche market.

Artificial reefs are great way to promote aquatic life, but as with everything there are always people who oppose new ideas. The naysayers feel there is no major marine life benefit and that artificial reefs only pollute the ocean.

So next time you’re enjoying diving on a sunken James Bond plane wreck in the Bahamas, a sunken train in Thailand, or an underwater tire world in Florida, remember they aren’t natural reefs but they’re awesome diving.

Source.

ARTIFICIAL REEFS FOR RESORTS: WHAT’S IN YOUR WATERFRONT?

Typical dynamic reef location for tourism and environment

Artificial Reefs are also known as Dynamic Reefs when applied to resort and development waterfronts.

At Reef Worlds we have been leading the Dynamic Reef Revolution.

Reef Worlds design teams spent 2012 reviewing the state of five-star resort waterfronts in the Caribbean and Pacific. Their report shed a new light on the underwater world beyond the high tide mark.

(TRAVPR.COM) USA - March 5th, 2013 - With well known resort brands spending millions of dollars on land-based renovations and new construction, few have yet to discover their own waterfronts -- underwater -- as a source of revenue and completely unique client engagement.

“It’s all about creating an emotional engagement,” says Dave Taylor Director of Development at Reef Worlds, an L.A based underwater design and development company.

“There’s an estimated 500,000 square miles of accessible ocean front sitting right off mainstream hotel chains and fractional ownership resorts across the Caribbean and Asia that no one has created any meaningful engagement with. The resorts who own these spaces still consider the high tide mark their responsibility. The end result are waterfront spaces that no one wants to snorkel on, or dive on, worse yet spaces that wildlife, (the reason people engage with the water), are leaving because of environmental neglect. Reef Worlds creates the kind of habitat that can bring these spaces back to life with artificial reef elements that are designed for both tourism and the environment."

Taylors design team create unique and iconic underwater worlds on resort waterfronts in the 'goldilocks zone' for tourism and wildlife. “Today’s clients want to create their own vacation content and share it via social media with the world. it’s imperative that these unique emotional ‘engagement points’ be worthy of that content creation. The images and videos they share that are ultimately branded to the resort turning your clients into marketing machines for your brand.”

Dave Taylors design and build team are avid water users and have traveled extensively around the world to discover the state of resort waterfronts in 2012 and their report was not pretty. “We found old tires, garbage, sand bottoms, broken coral, and wildlife that was barely hanging on. In short not a place you would want to grab a snorkel kit and go explore and these were 5 star developments and fractional ownership properties.”

Reef Worlds engagement solutions for resorts are simple. Take the concept of an artificial reef, typically rock tailings, rip rap, and or concrete shapes that have no tourism value and fundamentally redesign the concept to create entire worlds underwater for tourism and wildlife. Reef Worlds harness 5,000 years of human design elements with a touch of Hollywood magic to deliver underwater experiential sites that capture and hold mass tourism within a resort developments own footprint.
They are also designed as revenue generators from the day they are placed onsite.
 
Tourism Revenue 101

“Snorkel rentals have some compelling numbers behind them. A typical snorkel set rents for $20-30USD a day, and at just 100 sets a day you’re looking at close to a million dollars in revenue generation for the resort, plus habitat creation with the increase of bio mass and colorful fish to your waterfront. But the Holy Grail of Reef Worlds are the newly branded vacation memories for your clients and their entire family in a way that is practically maintenance-free. Try getting all that from a land-based water park.”

If You Build It

Habitat creation is important for regional wildlife. Many resorts worldwide are suffering from extensive habitat loss underwater. Reef Worlds builds the kind of large structures that attract soft coral growth, herbivorous fish, and schooling fish species. Reef Worlds design teams also employ marine biologists and fish ecologists to design underwater worlds that also act as instant habitat creation.

“The next decade will be all about who has the ability to create an emotional connection with their client base. After all, one beach is the same as the next beach and you can only add so many swimming pools and land-based attractions before you start running out of space. Our message is simple, start building underwater and discover how easy it is: re-engage your clients and get them to use social media to spread the word about your resorts while helping the regional environment at the same time."

About Reef Worlds

At the intersection of art, science, and the environment is Reef Worlds. When a unique team of film and television designers, dive site developers, and marine biologists got together they dreamt of a better way to experience the undersea realm - the result was Reef Worlds.

Fisheries Management and Artificial Reefs

Artificial Reefs are also known as Dynamic Reefs when applied to resort and development waterfronts.

At Reef Worlds we have been leading the Dynamic Reef Revolution.

Highlights from last week’s Northwest Florida Artificial Reef Workshop which included Bill Lindberg, Bob Shipp, Will Patterson, and Luiz Barbieri. 

These researchers provided information regarding the current state of reef fisheries in the Gulf. Additionally, they suggested strategies for use of artificial reefs.  

Artificial reefs have a wide variety of positive net uses and benefits which are just now enjoying the kind of in depth research and understanding that drives innovations.

Please view the session recording by clicking here.

In tourism-dependent Caribbean, efforts to restore mostly dead coral reefs increasing

ORACABESSA BAY, Jamaica –  Mats of algae and seaweed have shrouded the once thick coral in shallow reefs off Jamaica's north coast. Warm ocean waters have bleached out the coral, and in a cascade of ecological decline, the sea urchins and plant-eating reef fish have mostly vanished, replaced by snails and worms that bore through coral skeletons.

Now, off the shores of Jamaica, as well as in Caribbean islands from Bonaire to St. Croix, conservationists are planting fast-growing coral species to try and turn things around by "seeding" reefs.

The strategy has doubters, with one expert joking that prayer might be as effective, but conservationists say the problem is so catastrophic that inaction is not an option. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, live coral coverage on Caribbean reefs is down to an average of just 8 percent, from 50 percent in the 1970s.

Article here.

Artificial Reefs: What’s in your Waterfront?

Reef Worlds design teams spent 2012 reviewing the state of five-star resort waterfronts in the Caribbean and Pacific. Their report shed a new light on the underwater world beyond the high tide mark. 

Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) February 27, 2013 

With well known resort brands spending millions of dollars on land-based renovations and new construction, few have yet to discover their own waterfronts -- underwater -- as a source of revenue and completely unique client engagement.

“It’s all about creating an emotional engagement,” says Dave Taylor Director of Development at Reef Worlds, an L.A based underwater design and development company.

“There’s an estimated 500,000 square miles of accessible ocean front sitting right off mainstream hotel chains and fractional ownership resorts across the Caribbean and Asia that no one has created any meaningful engagement with. The resorts who own these spaces still consider the high tide mark their responsibility. The end result are waterfront spaces that no one wants to snorkel on, or dive on, worse yet spaces that wildlife, (the reason people engage with the water), are leaving because of environmental neglect. Reef Worlds creates the kind of habitat that can bring these spaces back to life with artificial reef elements that are designed for both tourism and the environment."

Taylors design team create unique and iconic underwater worlds on resort waterfronts in the 'goldilocks zone' for tourism and wildlife. “Today’s clients want to create their own vacation content and share it via social media with the world. it’s imperative that these unique emotional ‘engagement points’ be worthy of that content creation. The images and videos they share that are ultimately branded to the resort turning your clients into marketing machines for your brand.”

Dave Taylors design and build team are avid water users and have traveled extensively around the world to discover the state of resort waterfronts in 2012 and their report was not pretty. “We found old tires, garbage, sand bottoms, broken coral, and wildlife that was barely hanging on. In short not a place you would want to grab a snorkel kit and go explore and these were 5 star developments and fractional ownership properties.”

Reef Worlds engagement solutions for resorts are simple. Take the concept of an artificial reef, typically rock tailings, rip rap, and or concrete shapes that have no tourism value and fundamentally redesign the concept to create entire worlds underwater for tourism and wildlife. Reef Worlds harness 5,000 years of human design elements with a touch of Hollywood magic to deliver underwater experiential sites that capture and hold mass tourism within a resort developments own footprint.

They are also designed as revenue generators from the day they are placed onsite.

Tourism Revenue 101

“Snorkel rentals have some compelling numbers behind them. A typical snorkel set rents for $20-30USD a day, and at just 100 sets a day you’re looking at close to a million dollars in revenue generation for the resort, plus habitat creation with the increase of bio mass and colorful fish to your waterfront. But the Holy Grail of Reef Worlds are the newly branded vacation memories for your clients and their entire family in a way that is practically maintenance-free. Try getting all that from a land-based water park.”

If You Build It

Habitat creation is important for regional wildlife. Many resorts worldwide are suffering from extensive habitat loss underwater. Reef Worlds builds the kind of large structures that attract soft coral growth, herbivorous fish, and schooling fish species. Reef Worlds design teams also employ marine biologists and fish ecologists to design underwater worlds that also act as instant habitat creation.

“The next decade will be all about who has the ability to create an emotional connection with their client base. After all, one beach is the same as the next beach and you can only add so many swimming pools and land-based attractions before you start running out of space. Our message is simple, start building underwater and discover how easy it is: re-engage your clients and get them to use social media to spread the word about your resorts while helping the regional environment at the same time."

About Reef Worlds

At the intersection of art, science, and the environment is Reef Worlds. When a unique team of film and television designers, dive site developers, and marine biologists got together they dreamt of a better way to experience the undersea realm - the result was Reef Worlds.

Resort developers should pay attention to these two words - Coral Bleaching

It's happening, and it's worldwide. The next 10 years will see a continued near shore degradation of reefs that once supported a wide variety of marine life...and tourism dollars.

Resorts and new developers can either start building now for this inevitable tide of bad news with the addition of marine friendly artificial reefs or be caught short later when water based tourists leave to explore sites that still contain viable wildlife:

Three-quarters of the world's reefs are at risk according to a report.

By 2050 virtually all of the world's coral reefs – from the waters of the Indian Ocean to the Caribbean to Australia – will be in danger, the report warns. The consequences – especially for countries such as the Philippines or Haiti which depend on the reefs will be severe.

"These are dire results," said Lauretta Burke, a lead author of Reefs at Risk, a collaborative effort led by the World Resources Institute in Washington and 25 other research organisations.

The reefs of south-east Asia are in the most acute peril – with 95% on the danger list; 75% of the reefs in the Caribbean are also threatened, including all those in Florida, Haiti and Jamaica. But even Australia, where reefs are protected, will be in the danger zone by the middle of the century if climate change is left unchecked.

Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, described the scenario as a "perfect storm" of global and local threats. "Make no mistake. This is a critical time for ocean eco-systems in general but especially for coral reefs," she said.

Burke and other experts at the release of the report in Washington said the assault could be reversible. "Coral reefs are resilient and do rebound from these pressures when local threats are kept low," Burke said.

But Lubchenco warned: "It will take a Herculean effort to reverse the current trajectory and leave a healthy ecosystem to our children and grandchildren."

Article here.

Artificial Reefs - Hollywood Company adds Underwater Wow Factor to Holiday Resorts

Reef Worlds design elements series 400

US-based company Reef Worlds has been transforming the holiday experience at a number of resorts recently in a very unique way. Designed by divers and created by design teams who have worked on Hollywood blockbusters including Lord of the Rings, Avatar and Pirates of the Caribbean, Reef Worlds’ unique green ‘ocean structures’ are giving beachfront resorts an added wow factor – underwater.

The company also creates imaginative underwater reefs for private homes and was commissioned recently by a fractional development to come with a design for its resort.

Reef World “Guardians” use ecological materials which are created to be havens for regional marine life. The intelligent ‘marine integration technology’ utilises local rock and ancient coral beds to build “made to order” underwater structures on site.

Dave Taylor, head of Development at Reef Worlds, says one of his most recent projects has been working with resorts in Phuket to create sustainable artificial reef systems.
“It’s something NGOs [non-government organizations] has been looking to do for years; engage developments to take stake of their oceans, and what we’re looking to do is build iconic forms underwater,” he said.

By using crushed rock sourced from ancient coral beds, together with low PH concrete for their structures Reef Worlds create a “super platform” for wildlife, including living coral, to adhere to. These underwater life forms then attract the charismatic mega fauna like sharks and manta rays that tourists want to see, explained Taylor.

Sometimes, however, the underwater environment is not suitable, in which case Reef Worlds will not undertake a project as Taylor believes it’s important to protect the ocean’s natural balance. Reef Worlds looks for white-sand bottoms or crushed coral flats that are “denuded of life” because it promotes “do no harm tourism” as Taylor explained. As part of this philosophy, Reef Worlds provides 10 years of follow-up analysis for their reefs.

One major example of how the new reefs can help the underwater ecological balance is the famous dive spot the Great Barrier Reef which is now under pressure because so much diving takes place around it. Taylor says that carefully placed five to ten acre Reef Worlds sites on the inshore sand bed areas off The Great Barrier Reef would relieve tourism pressure from the many thousands of non certified divers and snorkelers who “should not be on A Class reef habitats in the first place”.

Taylor also points out the eco benefits of cultivating the new reefs at resorts: “For resort and developments seeking to leave a smaller footprint, cut down on green house emissions, and keep their clients engaged on their properties Reef Worlds makes both economic and ecological sense.”

Last but not least, says Taylor, “Reef Worlds structures work not only as tourist draws or marine life aggregators, they can also act as wave attenuators in smaller and larger bays where seasonal storms often wash away prime beach front at the cost of many millions of dollars globally to resort and developments each and every year.”

www.reefworlds.com

Artificial Reefs Tourism Trend Setters – Attractions That Create Vacation Memories and Revenue

Reef Worlds design elements series 200

Global tourism is getting back on track and all indications are showing a return to vacation night stays at beachfront hotels and fractional ownership around the world. Once again the industry is grappling with the age old questions of consumer engagement and vacation memory creation branded to resort properties.

“It’s a no brainer for us,” says Dave Taylor Director of Development at Reef Worlds, an L.A based underwater design and development company.

“There’s an estimated 500,000 square miles of accessible ocean front sitting right off main stream hotel chains and fractional ownership resorts  that no one has built any engagement with. The resorts who own these spaces still consider the high tide mark their responsibility. The end result are waterfront spaces that no one wants to snorkel on, or dive on, worse yet spaces that wildlife, (the reason people engage with the water), are leaving because of environmental neglect.”

Dave Taylors design and build team are avid water users and have traveled extensively around the world to discover the state of resort waterfronts in 2012 and their report was not pretty. “We found old tires, garbage, sand bottoms, broken coral, and wildlife that was barely hanging on. In short not a place you would want to grab a snorkel kit and go explore and these were 5 Star developments and time share properties .”

Reef Worlds solution is simple. Take the concept of an artificial reef, typically rock tailings, rip rap, and or concrete shapes that had no tourism value and fundamentally redesign the concept to create entire worlds underwater for tourism and wildlife. Reef Worlds harnesses 5000 years of human design elements with a touch of Hollywood magic to deliver underwater experiential sites that capture and hold mass tourism within a resort developments own footprint while creating a haven for regional wildlife.

They are also designed as revenue generators from the day they are placed with on site.

Tourism Revenue 101
“Snorkel rentals have some compelling numbers behind them. A typical snorkel set rents for $20-30USD a day, and at just 100 sets a day you’re looking at close to a million dollars in revenue generation for the resort. Add to that habitat creation with the increase of bio mass and colorful fish to your waterfront. But the Holy Grail of Reef Worlds are the newly branded vacation memories for your clients and their entire family in a way that is practically maintenance free. Try getting all that from a land based water park.”

Reef Worlds is in design and build stage with several 20 acre waterfront sites with site openings in tandem with new developments at the end of 2014 and 2015.

“We’re breaking every tourism paradigm there is right now with Reef Worlds. Tourism is coming back in a big way and today’s client is not the same one we saw in 2007, they are networked, social media savvy, and want experiential adventures they can share easily with friends. They also want a return to wildlife engagement and that’s something we’re helping with one unique and iconic underwater site at a time.”

If You Build It
Habitat creation is important for regional wildlife. Many resorts worldwide are suffering from extensive habitat loss underwater. Reef Worlds builds the kind of large structures that attract soft coral growth, herbivorous fish, and schooling fish species. Reef Worlds design teams also employ marine biologists and fish ecologists to design underwater worlds that also act as instant habitat creation.
“The next decade will be all about who has the ability to create an emotional connection with their client base. After all, one beach is the same as the next beach and you can only add so many swimming pools and land based attractions before you start running out of space. Our message is simple, start building underwater and discover how easy it is re-engage your clients and get them to use social media to spread the word about your resorts.”

About Reef Worlds
At the intersection of art, science, and the environment is Reef Worlds. When a unique team of film and television designers, dive site developers, and marine biologists got together they dreamt of a better way to experience the undersea realm.

The result was Reef Worlds.

For more information about Reef Worlds:

Visit their website www.reefworlds.com
Call 323.863.5085
Send an email to developer@reefworlds.com

BP grants bolster plans for artificial reef project off Collier coast

NAPLES — BP has awarded $1.3 million in grants toward plans to create artificial reefs along the Collier County coast.

Nearly three years after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, local governments in Collier County, Marco Island and Naples are to collectively receive $1.3 million in grants from BP's Gulf Tourism and Seafood Promotion Fund.

Naples-based attorney Peter Flood, who helped create the project to sink 36 artificial reefs off Collier County, sought local government support to make the BP claims.

"I do a lot of BP claims as an attorney," he said. "The county and the city didn't know about the possibilities. The reason I'm doing this is we're lacking in this area of reefs. Everything on land here is first-class. We're lagging behind when it comes to artificial reefs. This is going to be a world-class system that will last forever."

Naples, Collier County and Marco Island government leaders will need to formally accept their specific grant. Marco Island officials are scheduled to do so at a council meeting in February.
In the meantime, a written agreement is in the works between officials of Marco Island, Naples, county government and Flood, Collier County spokeswoman Connie Deane said.

"We're showing everybody that the private sector and government sector can work together," Flood said.

The BP-funded grants were approved through the Deepwater Horizon Claims administration.
"It was very competitive to get these," said Nick Gagliano, grants coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon claims administration. "We had a lot of very good applications. We felt they (Collier governments) made a good case for improving fishing opportunities and outdoor water activity."There were about 350 Golf Tourism and Seafood Promotional Fund applications from throughout the Gulf Coast and 110 were awarded, Gagliano said.

Collier County government received $500,000, Naples $313,650 and Marco Island received $500,000. Collectively that accounts for more than $1.3 million of the $10.6 million awarded throughout Florida.

Flood anticipates the first reef going in as early as July. Private donations are sought to meet the balance of the project cost, estimated at $3.5 million or more.