Duncan’s Reef

When it comes to beginnings, no one is more familiar than Houma native Duncan Prentice.

It began as early as 1995, when Duncan was born in the first month of the year as the first child of Derrick and Melanie Prentice before becoming the “perfect big brother” to sisters Katherine and Emery.

“He’s five-and-a-half years older than Katherine, so it was almost like it was three against two,” Melanie laughs. “He was always kind of like the parent, but in a brother way. Hard on them, but always around. He always knew what was important — and it was people, not things.”

“He was just always a selfless person,” Derrick says. “Always thinking about his sisters, his grandparents, his friends, and just everyone else before himself.”

On December 27, 2023, Duncan tragically lost his life at 28 years old in a vehicle accident. Yet even now, the beginnings he’s spent his life paving haven’t stopped.

In February of 2025, representatives from Danos, Natrx, the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana (CCA), Delta Coast Consultants, White Water Contractors, Woodside Energy, and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) installed one of the largest artificial reefs to date in Louisiana just south of the waters of Cocodrie — and they did it in Duncan’s name.

“He would be so embarrassed if he knew they named a reef after him. He wasn’t a showy person or a very loud person. He was quiet, not shy, but never wanted attention on himself,” says Melanie.

“Duncan’s Reef” consists of over 800 Cajun Coral structures created from eco-based materials through a partnership between Danos and Natrx, a technology-based coastal and marine restoration company. Coming together to form artificial reefs, the structures are placed in the sites of decommissioned oil and gas platforms to reinvigorate former fishing hotspots.

The project was funded

through a $100,000 grant from Woodside Energy to CCA’s REEF Louisiana initiative, which has served to replace fishing habitats across Louisiana since its founding in 2019.

As a computer and technology enthusiast who owned his own 3-D printer and spent his childhood building toys without directions, Duncan served as a “bridge” in helping to increase artificial reef technology’s presence in Louisiana.

“Danos and Natrx got together in the beginning of this, and Duncan was right in the middle. It was an industry that didn’t really exist, so he helped it from the beginning,” Derrick says. “It’s just going to grow, and I like to think that he’s a big part of the very beginning of it.”

After finishing high school, Duncan spent several semesters studying business at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Nicholls State University, but his parents say he struggled to find his passion in that field. He ultimately stepped back from college to work, which turned into five years with Delta Coast Consultants before landing his dream job with Danos.

“It married all the things he loved about work that he did and stuff that he was interested in,” Melanie says. “They were like, ‘Can you weld?’ He’s like, ‘Yes.’ 3-D print? Yes. Can you write code for computers? Yes.”

Upon accepting his offer from Danos in early 2023, Duncan spent six months in Raleigh, North Carolina, training with Natrx on the technology used to produce Cajun Coral. He returned to Houma in October 2023 to begin working, moving in with Derrick and Melanie in what was to be a temporary arrangement.

During that time, the pair says they saw more passion and dedication from their son toward the work he was doing than they could have ever dreamed.

“That’s all a parent wants is to see their child happy and to not settle, but find things they’re passionate about,” Melanie says. “Most people don’t get that their entire life, so to be 28 and find that — I’m thankful he found it.” Duncan would pass away just two months later — two months for which his parents will forever be thankful.

“We had him for Christmas and a lot of time with his sisters, and we got to hang out a lot as a family. He was able to go to his ten year reunion and went to weddings,” Melanie says. “I felt like that was a little gift from God that we had those months together.”

When the pieces of Duncan’s Reef began to be lowered into the water at its dedication in February, Duncan’s long line of beginnings continued, as the first structures installed were

the ones he had created and printed.“To think he actually made some of the coral in there – it’s kind of like the last part of him that he left his legacy with,” Melanie says.

It’s now been a little over a year since Duncan’s passing, and the Prentice family says that time has been full of memories of their son, visits from his dearest friends, and countless stories of the dedication, selflessness, and kindness he brought to the workplace every day, even from people Melanie and Derrick had never met.

On one recent occasion, Melanie and Derrick were approached by a staff member at the marina Duncan often stayed at while working on job sites who told them Duncan had spent two hours after a long work day helping the man to fix his computer.

“He always did it with a kind heart and a selfless heart, and that’s the part of him I try to remember to be in my everyday life,” Melanie says.

Melanie and Derrick keep in touch with Duncan’s colleagues, overwhelmed with the constant praise their son receives for both his passion for his craft and the character he brought to the workplace.

“I’m not surprised that people liked him on their team. He was always giving credit to everyone else. He was the perfect teammate,” Derrick says.

Even now, the firsts and beginnings that Duncan so often brought with him continue

in his family. The day after sharing their story with POV, Melanie and Derrick headed out to Cocodrie on a sunny spring day with their closest friends to fish in Duncan’s Reef for the first time.

And it certainly won’t be the last time for the Prentices, who dream of the years they’ll spend fishing with their children and grandchildren in the reef, named for a son, brother, and friend forever known for his passion, gentleness, and selflessness.

“The reef is going to be there long after we’re gone. It has his name. It’s already on maps. People all over the world who are fishermen know the name Duncan’s Reef,” Derrick says. “People take their whole life to get to their A game in anything, and he made it there at 28. In a lot of ways, he did more than any of us.”