GCRA  OVERVIEW  FAQ  NEWS  ARTICLES  PHOTOS  REEF ISSUES  RESTORATION  PAPERS  LINKS 

March 9 2009

 Biorock as a technical adaptation strategy for coral reef protection and restoration in the tourism industry

 Thomas J. Goreau, PhD, President, Global Coral Reef Alliance

 Financial Policy Framework for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation within the tourism sector, to be presented at COP 15 in Dec 09

 Biorock® Technology uses safe low voltage direct current applied to steel frameworks to grow limestone structures of any size or shape in the sea. The steel is completely protected from rusting, and Biorock is the only marine construction material that gets stronger with age, while all others deteriorate. Biorock materials are self-repairing: damaged areas grow back preferentially. Power can be supplied by solar panels, windmills, tidal current turbines, wave generators, or land-based transformers. Corals and other marine organisms on Birock typically grow 2-6 times faster than normal, and have 16-50 times higher survival after severe high temperature episodes. Rates of spontaneous colonization of Biorock structures by corals, attached marine organisms, and fishes are extraordinarily high. As a result Biorock technology can be used to keep coral reefs alive when they would die, and restore coral reefs in a few years where little or no natural recovery is taking place. Coral reefs covered with bright corals and swarming with fish are quickly grown in front of beaches, and have turned severely eroding beaches into growing ones in a few years. Tourists come from all over the world to see them, and come back again and again to watch their evolution. They therefore play a crucial short-term role for saving coral reefs from global warming and coastlines from global sea level rise and increasing storm strength, as well as in restoring fisheries, maintaining biodiversity, and educating the public about the need for environmental restoration.

 Expanding coastal tourism has killed coral reefs through fossil fuel emissions, land clearance and erosion, dredging, anchors, trampling, and inadequately treated sewage. As a result tropical beach hotels mostly have dead reef in front of them, so they have to take tourists hours by boat to see corals and fish, and face social conflicts with local fishermen over these resources. However they can play a critical role in providing solutions if tropical beach hotels were to grow Biorock reefs to provide ecotourism opportunities right in front of their beaches, while protecting their beaches from erosion, increasing biodiversity, preserving reefs from global warming, and replenishing fish stocks for neighboring communities. By promoting large-scale coral reef restoration in front of hotels, the tourism industry can be transformed from a part of the problem into playing a leading role in the solution.

 Hundreds of Biorock projects have been built in the last 20 years in more than 20 countries across the Caribbean, Pacific, Indian Ocean, and South East Asia.  The world’s largest coral reef restoration projects are located at Pemuteran, Bali and at Gili Trawangan, Lombok, both in Indonesia.

 Some key references are:

 W. H. Hilbertz, 1979, Electrodeposition of Minerals in Sea Water: Experiments and Applications, IEEE Journal on Oceanic Engineering, Vol. OE-4, No.3, 19p.

 W. Hilbertz & T. J. Goreau, 1998, Third generation artificial reefs, OCEAN REALM, Summer Issue, 45-48

 T. J. Goreau, W. Hilbertz, & A. Azeez A. Hakeem, 2000, Increased coral and fish survival on mineral accretion reef structures in the Maldives after the 1998 Bleaching Event, ABSTRACTS 9TH INTERNATIONAL CORAL REEF SYMPOSIUM, 263

 T. J. Goreau & W. Hilbertz, 2005, Marine ecosystem restoration: costs and benefits for coral reefs, WORLD RESOURCE REVIEW, 17: 375-409

 T. J. Goreau and W. Hilbertz, 2007, REEF RESTORATION AS A FISHERIES MANAGEMENT TOOL, in Fisheries and Aquaculture, [Ed. Patrick Safran], in Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), Developed under the Auspices of the UNESCO, EOLSS Publishers, Oxford ,UK, [http://www.eolss.net ]

 T. J. Goreau & W. Hilbertz, 2008, Bottom-up community-based coral reef and fisheries restoration in Indonesia, Panama, and Palau, P. 143-159 in R. France (Ed.) HANDBOOK OF REGENERATIVE LANDSCAPE DESIGN, CRC Press, Boca Raton

 More information, including photographs, reports, and articles can be found at www.globalcoral.org