Reef balls are hollow, and typically have several convex-concave holes of varying sizes to most closely approximate natural coral reef conditions by creating whirlpools. The Reef Ball Foundation manufactures reef balls for open ocean deployment in sizes from 0.3 to 2.5 metres (1 to 8 ft) in diameter and 15 to 3,500 kilograms (30 to 8,000 lb) in weight. Reef balls, lowering into Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, USA 2009 Almost 25,000 reef balls have been established in the surrounding seas of Mexico.
Artificial reefs were also built in Quintana Roo, Baja California, Colima, Veracruz, and Campache. In 2019, Reef Ball Foundation deployed 1,400 reef balls in the shores of Progreso, Yucatán in Mexico. By 2007, the foundation has deployed 550,000 reef balls worldwide. In 2001, Reef Ball Foundation took control of the Reef Ball Development Group, and operates all aspects of the business as a non-profit organization. Reef Ball also participates in education and outreach regarding environmental stewardship and coral reefs. The Foundation has expanded the scope of its projects to include coral rescue, propagation and transplant operations, beach restorations, mangrove restorations and nursery development.
Reef balls can be found in almost every coastal state in the United States, and on every continent including Antarctica. In 1997, Kathy Kirbo established The Reef Ball Foundation, Inc as a non-profit organization with original founders being Todd Barber as chairman and charter member, Kathy Kirbo founding Executive Director, board secretary, and charter member, Larry Beggs as Vice President and a charter member and Eric Krasle as Treasurer and a charter member, Jay Jorgensen as a charter member. Over the next few years, with the help of research colleagues at University of Georgia, Nationwide Artificial Reef Coordinators and the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), Barber, his colleagues, and business partners worked to perfect the design. Barber and his father patented the idea of building reef substrate modules with a central inflatable bladder, so that the modules would be buoyant, making them easy to deploy by hand or with a small boat, rather than requiring heavy machinery. Barber witnessed his favorite coral reef on Grand Cayman destroyed by Hurricane Gilbert, and wanted to do something to help increase the resiliency of eroding coral reefs. Reef Ball Development Group was founded in 1993 by Todd Barber, with the goal of helping to preserve and protect coral reefs for the benefit of future generations.
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