Labor to spend $100 million on reef?

Big Question of The Day - How does a government spent $100 million dollars protecting a reef?

OPPOSITION Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk made the announcement on Green Island, off the Cairns coast, on Wednesday after taking a reef tour in a glass bottom boat alongside her environment spokeswoman Jackie Trad.

Ms Palaszczuk said a "high-level taskforce" would provide recommendations to government to determine how best to spend the $100 million over five years. The taskforce will have several targets, including reducing nitrogen run off by up to 80 per cent in key catchment areas by 2025. But Ms Trad would not be drawn on what concrete initiatives the $100 million would be spent on and whether the taskforce's targets would be legislated.

"We will make that decision after we listen to the evidence, after we listen to the experts," Ms Trad said. "Unlike (Premier) Campbell Newman who has picked a fight with everybody in our community ... (and) who doesn't believe in the science of climate change."

Ms Palaszczuk says it's too early to detail exactly what the money will be spent on because it was just the start of Labor's reef plan. She says Labor will "absolutely" prioritize addressing debt and reveal its long-awaited fiscal strategy on Friday, 15 days before the state poll.

Full story here. 

Ecomonic Impacts Artificial and Dynamic Reefs - Resorts and Tourism

Artificial and Dynamic Reefs are good for tourism and the environment according to a recent study on the economic impacts of artificial reefs in Florida (see info graphic).

To the tune of $253 million dollars in South Florida waters alone, why hasn't the resort development community caught on to the financial benefits of Dynamic Reef environments yet?

At stake are close to 500,000 square miles of ocean front owned by resorts and developments around the world. Ocean environments that, because of neglect, feature denuded wildlife and dead coral?

The simple fact is resorts and developments have rarely considered anything past the high tide mark - until now.

Suddenly developments are staring to take a hard look at their complete footprint, including that of the waterfront past the high tide mark as a source of revenue and engagement.

One of the main drivers for this new trend is social media. Today's resort clients want to create and share their own media content and resorts need to prodiethese unique sites for content creation.

Dynamic Reefs offer a complete solution to the complex issues of content creation, environmental rehabilitation, client engagement, and branding.

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."

The 20.6 Million Dollar Artificial Reef Heist?

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.

BATON ROUGE — Despite opposition from the energy industry, a top business group, a recreational fishing association and the state Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, a House committee advanced legislation Monday that will sweep $20.6 million out of the Artificial Reef Development Fund.

But opponents to the move argue the fund will only have roughly $14 million in it when the administration makes its transfer, should the Legislature oblige, before the next budget takes effect July 1.

As a result, they predict Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration intends to take all of the money out of the fund, leaving it at a zero balance until it gradually builds back up.

Michael DiResto, assistant commissioner of policy and communications for the Division of Administration, said late Monday the administration is not planning to adjust the figure of $20.6 million downward and is comfortable with the legislation as passed by the House Appropriations Committee.

The reef fund contains payments made primarily by oil and gas companies that are looking to save money by “reefing” a rig, rather than the costlier alternative of pulling it inshore to have scrapped.

Several conservation groups say they also support the rigs-to-reefs program, bankrolled by the fund, because it creates sustainable underwater habitats. 

House Bill 452 by Appropriations Chairman Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro, takes $519 million out of several dedicated funds like the reef fund to help balance the budget, chiefly benefitting higher education. 

The committee approved the bill by a vote of 13-10 before endorsing the $24 billion state spending plan, Fannin’s House Bill 1. 

For the remainder of the session, which ends June 6, the two bills will be closely connected in all coming budget debates. 

Complete story here.

SeaTrade Insider: Caribbean warned to improve product or lose calls

Reef Worlds Dynamic Reef elements for cruise tourism

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.

Caribbean warned to improve product or lose calls - SeaTrade Insider

 Destinations that do not make improvements may end up losing cruise business as the status quo is no longer acceptable' was the message to Cruise Shipping Miami delegates from Carnival Cruise Lines vp commercial port operations Carlos Torres de Navarra.

Speaking at the Caribbean/Mexico conference session, he quoted examples of destinations such as Cozumel and Roatán where changes had benefited and boosted their cruise tourism and others such as the Cayman Islands where the continued need to tender was having a negative impact on the cruise passenger experience.

Martinique saw its cruise traffic fall from 600,000 to 50,000 in a decade because, according to its Tourism Authority Commissioner Karine Roy-Camille: 'We were so slow to react to what the islands around us were doing. We did not pay enough attention and it is a long way back. We have improved the product and managed 20% increases for the last three but it still means we expect only 160,000 in the next season.'

This turnaround has included the setting up last year of a Cruise Committee (a network of private and public sector stakeholders), a 'Builders of Paradise' campaign to raise awareness among the entire community of cruising’s importance to their economy, the revamping of key areas in Fort-de-France and the development of welcome teams to help independent cruise tourists.

'Cruise traffic is still too seasonal,' she said, 'so for the first time we are offering incentives for summer calls in the form of lower port dues, pilot charges, shipping agency fees and tour prices.'
Panel moderator Mike Ronan, vp government relations-Caribbean, Latin America and Asia for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., said: 'The reality is that cruising is very global and no longer just a North American pastime so the Caribbean has to compete with new, emerging destinations.'

The demand for new experiences was underlined by Torres de Navarra who looked forward to the opening next month of the new Balmoral Park in Nassau in which Carnival has collaborated with a local developer. 'This will be a completely new experience for cruise passengers—not just the same-old, same-old which has been such a problem in the Caribbean and some other destinations.'
Puerto Costa Maya president Teófilo Hamui explained how—after creating a new cruise port out of the Mexican jungle and becoming a major cruise call—business was destroyed along with the infrastructure by a 2007 hurricane.

'Although we rebuilt, we have struggled to get back to the same level of cruise traffic. We have been looking for a new wow factor and think we now have it in Xcabel, a Mayan site which was discovered about five years ago and has been restored so that it can open to the public from next year. It has the tallest Mayan pyramid to be uncovered to date and it is just 80 minutes’ drive from the port.
'We have also upgraded the urban landscape around the port and added restaurants to the terminal. We also have plans to turn a 45-acre site into an adventure and water park called the Mayan Kingdom.'

Chukka Caribbean Adventures director Marc Melville agreed on the need to constantly refresh the tour product. 'Some will only have a three- to five-year lifespan. There was a fad 10 years ago for bike and kayak tours. Now you see hardly any. We close down five or six tours every year and replace them with something new.'

Large park-style attractions will have a longer life but only if they are constantly upgraded, he said: 'We are already starting on phase two of the Good Hope heritage attraction we created for the new Falmouth port in Jamaica.'

According to another speaker, Sustainable Travel International vp business development Brian Herlihy, Cozumel is also taking a necessary long-term view of its tourism product. 'It has recognised areas it needs to address before they become an issue and that is not just about destination management but rather destination stewardship,' he said. 'It wants to create a sustainable destination over the next 15-20 years.'

Artificial Reefs as Recreational Scuba Diving Resources: A Critical Review of Research

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.

 The Reef Worlds team found this artificial reef paper interesting, you might as well.

This paper reports on the increasing practice of developing and promoting artificial reefs as sites for scuba diving tourism and recreation. A comprehensive definition of artificial reefs is presented that encapsulates the diversity of structures used by marine recreationists, particularly scuba divers, followed by a review of existing literature that specifically examines artificial reefs as a resource for the conduct of recreational scuba diving.

Three main thematic areas were identified in the existing literature: social dimensions, socioeconomic impacts and environmental engineering.

 A typology of artificial reefs is offered to better describe and categorise artificial reef structures according to unit characteristics that may influence recreational use such as material used, appearance, complexity and cost.

 The paper presents a conceptual model that identifies the components of an artificial reef scuba diving experience and discusses the potential of artificial reefs to act as tourism resources and management tools to redistribute scuba diver numbers away from natural reefs. Directions for future research are suggested, emphasizing collection of data on aspects of the artificial reef scuba diving experience to better inform marine resource management.

Paper here.

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.

Film/TV and Commercials Underwater Productions - Reef Worlds

Underwater Sets - Film/TV and Commercials

The underwater world is the least filmed and utilized on a commercial level due to the shortage of production support and underwater vision. At Reef Worlds our entire team come from creative film and television backgrounds - underwater. We build for advertising clients like BBDO who demand the unusual and technically challenging and we deliver.

We are also accomplished filmmakers and creators of some of the most memorable and cutting edge water based commercial moments filmed in the last five years.

We design, build, deploy and manage entire production sites underwater for television commercial and film. Imagine lost cites, Mayan Ruins, meticulously designed and executed sets, wild sharks, colorful tropical fish and even...mermaids. We create and shoot these worlds both during the day and night.


Leading brands like Coke, Ford, Toyota, Nike, Amazon, Starbucks and Apple benefit from eye popping underwater worlds populated with charismatic mega fauna featuring their brands. We'll take your audience on a National Geographic style underwater adventure and exploration with your brand.

It's a vision thing, some brands get it, others would rather follow the current trends. At Reef Worlds we set trends, we don't follow them.

The Commercial Market

We know today's television marketplace for commercials is battleground and true breakout commercials that ultimately go viral need to the filmed in unique locations with stunning visuals. We create those locations from scratch, designed and built to your vision and set in locked down underwater locations and populated with wildlife - or not it's up to you, but as our team would recommend - always go big.

Reef Worlds production teams enjoy access to several underwater production sites in Florida and the Bahamas at shallow depth profiles and 100 foot visibility. Along with design and build our teams can offer you the following support:

Diving Coordinators Diving Supervisors Safety Divers Construction Divers Underwater Models Underwater Doubles Marine Scientists Shark Wranglers

Underwater Camera Operators Underwater Lighting Technicians Underwater Camera Assistants Researchers Marine Coordinators Boat Skippers Marine Assistants Marine Engineers

Let us show you new worlds to film and promote your brands. We're a phone call away and ready to share in your vision.