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Independent Study Project on Biorock On Feb 21, 2011 Dr. Goreau, Hello. My name is
Abigail Irwin. I am in 7th grade and attend I am doing an
Independent Study Project on Biorock. Part of my research is
conducting a short interview with questions about Biorock and the people who
work with it. My hypothesis is
‘’Biorock is the best replacement for coral reefs as opposed to other artificial
materials.’’ Attached are my 20
questions I wrote for my project. Please let me know if
you can help with my assignment. Thank you again for your
help. Sincerely, Abby Irwin
1. Where did you attend college? MIT (BSc Planetary
Physics), Caltech (MSc Planetary Astronomy), Yale (Marine Biology), Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution (Chemical Oceanography), Harvard (PhD
Biogeochemistry). I went to primary school and high school in
2. What are your credentials? I was a Professor of
Geology and Marine Science, a Researcher at the Brazilian National Institute for
Amazonian Research and the Jamaican Discovery Bay Marine Lab, advisor to grass
roots environmental groups all around the world, and Senior Scientific Affairs
Officer at the United Nations Centre for Science and Technology for Development
in charge of global climate change and biodiversity issues before founding the
Global Coral Reef Alliance 22 years ago. I have dived longer and in more places
around the world than any other coral scientist. My father was the world's first
diving marine scientist, and my grandfather took the first high quality
underwater photographs 63 years ago.
3. What prompted you to become a Biorock
expert? Biorock was originally
invented by Wolf Hilbertz, an architect, to grow limestone rock building
materials in the sea. I heard about his work and invited him to come to
4. Have you seen an increase with Biorock
over the past 5 years? We have built hundreds
of projects in more than 20 countries all across the Caribbean, Indian Ocean,
Pacific, and
5. Does it contribute to global warming in
any way? No. We reverse ocean
acidification on a local scale, and can help remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
6. Has the price of Biorock increased over
the past 5 years? If so, How much?
Is it because of popularity? We have never yet had a
project that actually paid us commercially. Most of our projects have had to be
small pilot projects with insufficient funds, that we worked on for free and
actually lost money to do. But our technology is far cheaper than any
alternative, as well as having vastly greater environmental benefits.
7. How much does Biorock cost for every
square yard? We can build any size or
shape, so the amount of materials and energy needed determine the cost per unit
area. But Biorock structures cost many times less than concrete or rock
structures the same dimensions.
8. Who supports the funding for the
construction of Biorock? Nobody does except small
locally raised contributions, mostly tickets, food, a bed, and materials. That
is what has held the technology back from being used where it is most needed. If
it were used every place where it was the best and most cost effective solution
we'd be billionaires. But instead we are paupers, constantly on the edge of
starvation and losing our homes. I would say that 99% of the people who come to
us asking for help are not able to find the funds to get to the very first
stages.
9. What types of skills are needed to build
Biorock? Basic intelligence,
desire to learn new concepts and skills, and willingness to work in the water
restoring what has been lost. We have trained hundreds of people, mostly
Indonesian students, divers, and fishermen, to do it. Proper training is
essential, because although the concepts are simple, the art and skills to do it
right take hands on training. People who try to copy our methods without our
training inevitably make fundamental errors and fail to get the results our
students do.
10. What is your schedule for the
construction of the Biorock Each project is designed
in a site specific way, just as a good architect makes the building fit the
site. We need to understand the topography, wave energy, potential power
sources, type of bottom, water quality, what organisms grow there, then we make
a design that fits the needs of the site. Only then can we estimate the amount
of materials and energy needed and estimate the cost. Then we build the
structures, walk, float, or swim them to the site, install them, power it, and
transplant naturally broken corals from surrounding areas. All of this depends
on the weather.
11. How much maintenance is required? We are accelerating the
growth rate of all organisms, but some respond more than others and can become
weeds, overgrowing the corals. So just like throwing fertilizer on the ground
and walking away, you will get more weeds than roses unless you take care of it.
Many of our projects have had no maintenance at all, but if a cable or power
supply breaks, then that is the end of the project unless somebody recognizes
the problem and knows how to fix it, and we can rarely afford to get back.
Everybody tells you what you want to hear, but in many places nobody really
cares about the project, and eventually something will go wrong. The best
projects are where there are people who really want it, swim and look at it, and
maintain it. You never really know who will except by their performance, because
all are volunteers since we get no salary ourselves, and we can't afford to pay
anyone else. If one could pay them, the results would be much better. But most
of our projects are with poor communities who are struggling to survive.
12. Is Biorock used all around the world? We have built coral
projects all across the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Pacific, and Southeast Asia,
and done projects in other places like oyster reefs and saltmarshes in
13. Where is it used the most?
14. What specifically is it made of? We build steel frames of
any size or shape and apply a low voltage current, which prevents any rusting
and causes natural limestone minerals to grow on top of them from seawater, and
accelerates growth of all marine organisms. We typically grow the rock slowly,
not more than 1-2 cm per year, and often much more slowly. But the corals grow
much faster, at record rates.
15. Is there a minimum and maximum depth for
the use of Biorock that works best? We need to be in
seawater and can grow right up to the high tide mark. We have done experimental
projects up to 5 km deep in the ocean. But in practice almost all of our
projects are in shallow water as they are used for diving, snorkeling, restoring
fisheries, and protecting beaches from erosion. All of these environmental
functions work best in shallow water. A typical depth is around 15 feet because
that way snorkelers can see it but not step on the corals, but we have some in
the intertidal zone and others 60 feet deep.
16. Is there any danger to sea animals, like
getting stuck? No, we speed up the
growth and the resistance to severe environmental stress of all organisms. We
normally only transplant naturally broken coral fragments, but all components of
reef life settle spontaneously on them or migrate to them. We quickly build up
spectacular fish populations. Our corals are more brightly colored, and bud and
branch far more densely.
17. Is there a minimum and maximum size for
Biorock? There are absolutely no
size or shape limits. We could grow them thousands of miles long to protect
eroding coasts from global sea level rise if people were serious about
protecting what they will soon lose. But the politicians have their heads in the
sand!
18. How do you keep it anchored to the sea
floor? Usually they just sit
under their own weight, and have survived very severe hurricanes. If they are on
bedrock they cement themselves solidly to the bottom, and they will cement sand
or mud around their bases. If they are built in areas with heavy waves it is
best to drill the base into bedrock.
19. Is there any Biorock in Not yet, but the first
one will be installed in Lauderdale By The Sea in a few months, as soon as the
rough weather from winter cold fronts ends.
20. Do you enjoy your job? No. I am proud of what I
do, growing coral reefs full of beautiful corals and fishes in barren dead
places, because it is important and somebody has to do it, but I do not enjoy
having had no salary for 22 years and every month having to beg and borrow money
not to lose my home, because no government or funding agencies wants to fund
serious efforts to restore our vanishing marine ecosystems. I have been telling
people why their reefs are dying all of my life and I just want to grow as many
corals as we can, wherever we can find serious partners and the resources for
them to grow back what they have lost. But it is a constantly losing battle
because policy makers and those with money really don't care at all. Until our
"leaders" actually care about undoing the damage they have caused by
uncontrolled greed and stupidity it will get much worse in a few years. Biorock is the best
replacement for coral reefs as opposed to other artificial materials. The best
way to see the difference is to look at video of what everybody else does for
artificial reefs after 8 years:
http://www.youtube.com/thebiorockchannel#p/c/E8ED08B9F73C162E/3/0XuD10qzg9k
And what we do after two
years (the main structure) and after 6 months (the one in the background at the
end):
http://www.youtube.com/thebiorockchannel#p/c/595DF9725C4DA72E/0/-NslPd6Awts
Best wishes, Tom Thomas J. Goreau, PhD |
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