I remember a few years ago, I did watch a TV documentary about artificial reefs produced by the National Geographic.

I found it very interesting, except they shown the sinking war ship and tank did provide an eco environment for most of the fish, the most impressed me a underwater concrete art gallery in Mexico MUSA ((Museo Subacuático de Arte) by Jason deCaires Taylor.

The art he made is so impressive, but unfortunately, I will never have a chance to visit that amazing museum, because I don’t know how to swim.

But it is good that we have internet,  I still can keep up to look at his website, they updated his projects very often and I really love his work :

http://www.underwatersculpture.com/pages/projects/mexico.html

And then, we have concrete memorial reefs, which can bury your love one who don’t afraid of sea.  hihihi… 

But actually, I don’t like this kind of cemetery, don’t you think this don’t serve any purpose? Your family need to diving into the deep sea to see your grave? 

And if you think it is good to the environment, but why don’t you just spread your ash into the ocean to feed the fish or into a garden to grow a tree.   The only way good is someone did can earn a living out of it. Haha!

http://www.neptunesociety.com/memorial-reef

http://www.eternalreefs.com/

http://www.mbara.org/memorial-reef-program.cfm

History:

1. In ancient, human built reefs for the other race’s attack.

2. According to the Wikipedia, thousands year ago, Persians (now is Iranian) blocked the mouth of the Tigris River to thwart Indian pirates by building an artificial reef, and then, during the First Punic Warthe Romans built a reef across the mouth of the Carthaginian harbour in Sicily to trap the enemy ships within and assist in diving the Carthaginians from the island.

3. Japanese using rubble and rocks to make reefs to grown kelp (海帶/昆布), since 17th century.

4. And the earliest recorded construction of artificial reef in the United States is from 1830s when logs from huts were used off the coast of South Carolina to improve fishing.

Development:

1. a) According to Wikipedia, when the ocean current reach a vertical structure (like concrete block, sinking ship) which put on the bottom of the sea, the current rise up the a cloud of plankton / ocean micro organisms, that can attract small fish, which also draw in pelagic predators like tuna and sharks.   

    b) It also mentioned same as the National Geographic documentary that fish love the protection of hole or crevice which provided by the sinking ship.

   c) another benefit is algae, tunicates, corals and sponges grown in the reef structure over months or years, that create more food and protection for the fish.

2. Coastal protection: barriers are built near fragile shores, Japan built over 4000 breakwaters in the last 20 years.

3. Surfing reefs: reefs are installed to amplify waves in popular surfing areas.

Material :

1.   Back in 1972, a well-meaning non-profit group came up with the idea of creating an artificial reef off the South Florida coast using two million old tires. The sunken rubber was supposed to lure game fish to the area and simultaneously reduce toxic waste on shore. Reefs like these already existed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Africa, Australia, and the Gulf of Mexico. None of them have been successful. Steel restraints holding the tires of the Osborne Reef together have rusted away. When tropical storms come the tires careen across the ocean floor destroying marine life and damaging natural coral reefs along the way. This ecological catastrophe has gone unnoticed by the critical human eye for decades.

     'Reef', by Hannes Bend:
     http://hannesbend.com/index.php?/bs/eclipse/

     Osborne Reef, more then 2,000,000 used vehicle tires were dumped off the coast of Fort  Lauderdale, Florida to form an artificial reef is a disaster.  

     I remember when we clean up our river, we did find some people dumping vehicle old tires for growing oyster,  vehicle tire is make of toxic plastic, when it dissolve into the water, it will poison the fish and human.  We try so hard to take the tire out of the river, because it weight 10 times when it stuck in the river bed!!!!  That is why I know so well the damage it cost on Osborne Reef.

2.   I think the officially sanctioned material should be non release or dissolve toxic to the environment. 

3.  Another thing that very interesting me on the wiki web, is about Electro mineral accretion, it is not easy to understand for a people like me who have no knowledge about chemistry.  but after explanation from Edward.  I found it incredible interesting.  He told me about the typewriter history, how IBM came up with a solution to electro plate a plastic typing ball with hard chromium in 1961.

       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter

   using electrochemical process chrome onto the surface of plastic, this is similar what it explain about EMA (Electro mineral accretion) : a group of scientists put a low voltage current to the sinking ship, in order to electro the limestone which floating in the sea, then attach the coral to grown. 

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_reef

but……..but……….but…….

   when I google about artificial reefs in the google picture…. I can find – dumping subway cars, conrete block, old fishing boat, war ship, antenna, plane………………………..  it is really scare me… it seem artificial reefs also can call artificial rubbish sea!!!!!!!!!!! 

上星期去了Green Island, 今星期回來, 就看到重播的Foreign Correspondent, The boy on the bike 的故事!

那騎單車小孩在上一輯補鯨故事中出現, 在拍攝過程中, 單車小孩不斷跟蹤攝影隊, 好像希望人家會不覺意中將他拍入鏡頭中.  誰會想到他竟是如此害羞.  當今次攝影隊回到陸前高田, 希望這位單車男孩仍然生存, 在學校找到他時, 記者給他看回一年前自己在影片踏車的情況, 他立即兩臉通紅, 含羞別過頭去吃自己的飯, 微笑著不語. 非常可愛.

差不多一年了, Mr. Mark Willacy(本片記者) 一年前, 去了陸前高田報導了補鯨 pro-whaling identities 的故事(我是反補鯨的擁護者, 我認為很多傳統觀念, 極大傷害了環境保護!  可是, 我不是個極端厭惡文化傳統的人啊!) 

也因為此, 很幸運的, 可以看到陸前高田的海嘯前, 海嘯後:

海嘯前(百年老木建築的廟宇和房屋, 繁榮的海港, 補漁為計的漁港):

海嘯後(人生是如此的fragile):

陸前高田:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikuzentakata,_Iwate

before

after

before

after

海嘯來臨時, 幾個為求活命的戰士:

Mr. YOSHIHARU YOSHIDA : 唯一戰士向海嘯挑戰, 為救自己為生工具(漁船), 將漁船駛向海嘯, 以求為存! (如果懂paddling划艇的就會知道了, 當浪沖來時, 必須正向沖去, 反之或側向都會被浪吞噬!) 

Mr. TOSHIKI FUKUDA: 痛失至愛(老妻), 明白到必須為下一代而建設好未來:

Mr.  KOICHI SUNADA: 痛失家園, 痛失社群 :

日本民族痛失至愛和家園, 他們的表態真的沒中國人那麼激烈!  他們生長在一個頻常地震的國土, 久不久就suffering的了!!! 他們什麼樣去釋放自己?  我真不理解!  我自己不快時, 要不曷大罵/就是大哭一場, 管他的, 只要釋放自己就感健康得多了!!!  日本人, 也真不同文化, 很難理解他們面對失去至愛／家園, 他們竟可平靜到沒什麼表情!

海嘯來時:

去片:

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/AJwdJCgGu60/