[Music]
just off the tourist mecca of cancun
lies the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef
system it stretches all the way south to
Honduras and is second in size only to
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef but like
many reefs it faces threats from
pollution and warming ocean temperatures
and overfishing add to that the pressure
of hundreds of thousands of tourists
visiting the area’s waters and the reefs
days could be numbered Jason de Kerry’s
tailor is trying to help in a novel way
through art the sculptures are actually
designed to become artificial reef units
the cement structure that you see behind
me is actually a special type of marine
grade cement this engineered to attract
corals so corals adhere to it they grow
they make different formation that in
turn encourages fish and other marine
life his still ongoing project is
sinking some 400 of these sculptures in
nearly 30 feet of water and in just a
few months
the statues already attract a wide
variety of life already this I think
over a thousand different fish living on
them there’s lobsters there’s big
schools of angelfish and there’s a big
coating of algae which is one of the
first things to settle Taylor says the
colorful display indirectly helps the
natural reefs this particular area of
Mexico receives a colossal amount of
visitors every year
think over 750,000 and that puts a lot
of pressure on the existing existing
reefs so part of this project is
actually to sort of discharge those
people away from the natural reefs and
bring them to an area of artificial
reefs the layout is important basically
Taylor envisions a big neighborhood for
fish and other creatures
the configuration attracts fish so
there’s huge schools of fish which
actually live above the sculptures and
then if there’s any sort of predators or
any danger then they drop below and sort
of hide out in the feet area which is
kind of the idea you know around our
positioning the museum is attracting a
growing number of divers visitors need
to go by boat to reach this spot between
Cancun and Isla Mujeres the area’s dive
to our providers are hoping to site both
boost business and helps maintain the
health of the reefs this is the perfect
balance where we’re protecting the reef
were bringing tourists into the natural
area we’re providing art to make it
beautiful and all together will help the
museum plans to continue adding
sculptures as funding is available the
main installation of 400 statues silent
evolution won’t really ever be finished
since the marine life will keep adding
touches for centuries
art and the beauty of the natural world
together may offer a means of helping
preserve marine life
[Music]
just off the tourist mecca of cancun
lies the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef
system it stretches all the way south to
Honduras and is second in size only to
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef but like
many reefs it faces threats from
pollution and warming ocean temperatures
and overfishing add to that the pressure
of hundreds of thousands of tourists
visiting the area’s waters and the reefs
days could be numbered Jason de Kerry’s
tailor is trying to help in a novel way
through art the sculptures are actually
designed to become artificial reef units
the cement structure that you see behind
me is actually a special type of marine
grade cement this engineered to attract
corals so corals adhere to it they grow
they make different formation that in
turn encourages fish and other marine
life his still ongoing project is
sinking some 400 of these sculptures in
nearly 30 feet of water and in just a
few months
the statues already attract a wide
variety of life already this I think
over a thousand different fish living on
them there’s lobsters there’s big
schools of angelfish and there’s a big
coating of algae which is one of the
first things to settle Taylor says the
colorful display indirectly helps the
natural reefs this particular area of
Mexico receives a colossal amount of
visitors every year
think over 750,000 and that puts a lot
of pressure on the existing existing
reefs so part of this project is
actually to sort of discharge those
people away from the natural reefs and
bring them to an area of artificial
reefs the layout is important basically
Taylor envisions a big neighborhood for
fish and other creatures
the configuration attracts fish so
there’s huge schools of fish which
actually live above the sculptures and
then if there’s any sort of predators or
any danger then they drop below and sort
of hide out in the feet area which is
kind of the idea you know around our
positioning the museum is attracting a
growing number of divers visitors need
to go by boat to reach this spot between
Cancun and Isla Mujeres the area’s dive
to our providers are hoping to site both
boost business and helps maintain the
health of the reefs this is the perfect
balance where we’re protecting the reef
were bringing tourists into the natural
area we’re providing art to make it
beautiful and all together will help the
museum plans to continue adding
sculptures as funding is available the
main installation of 400 statues silent
evolution won’t really ever be finished
since the marine life will keep adding
touches for centuries
art and the beauty of the natural world
together may offer a means of helping
preserve marine life
[Music]
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