On our recent trip to Grenada to cover the annual Dive Fest activities, we met up with Phil Saye from Dive Grenada and got the chance to chat about his idea to create an artificial reef in shallow water in front of his beachfront dive shop in Grand Anse.
Phil came up with an inexpensive structure that he designed from breeze blocks, and the first two were sunk some 6 years ago. He was told coral would never grow on his concrete pyramids, but now the 30 structures he has sunk support seven species of coral and 30 fish species.
The project is called The Grand Anse Artificial Reef Project (GAARP) and whilst its creator knows it is not the full answer to the issue of coral reef destruction, he is delighted that the site is showing signs of success and has also become a bit of a tourist attraction.
“People have got to know about it and they absolutely love it. They can’t believe that something so shallow – it’s only 3m deep – is working so well!”
To find out more about GAARP you can visit the Facebook page by clicking here.
To find out more about the island of Grenada, please click here.
Nick and Caroline Robertson-BrownNick and Caroline (Frogfish Photography) are a married couple of conservation driven underwater photo-journalists and authors. Both have honours degrees from Manchester University, in Environmental Biology and Biology respectively, with Nick being a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, a former high school science teacher with a DipEd in Teaching Studies. Caroline has an MSc in Animal Behaviour specializing in Caribbean Ecology.
They are multiple award-winning photographers and along with 4 published books, feature regularly in the diving, wildlife and international press They are the Underwater Photography and Deputy Editors at Scubaverse and Dive Travel Adventures. Winners of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Photo-journalist of the Year for a feature on Shark Diving in The Bahamas, and they have been placed in every year they have entered.
Nick and Caroline regularly use their free time to visit schools, both in the UK and on their travels, to discuss the important issues of marine conservation, sharks and plastic pollution. They are ambassadors for Sharks4Kids and founders of SeaStraw. They are Dive Ambassadors for The Islands of The Bahamas and are supported by Mares, Paralenz, Nauticam and Olympus.
To find out more visit www.frogfishphotography.com
