Living Seawalls: Aiming for Ecologically-Minded Ocean Construction
In the last century, there has been a construction boom in our oceans. Jetties, harbors, marinas, seawalls, and piers are becoming ubiquitous across our shorelines. In the United States today, over 50% of our natural shoreline has been destroyed and replaced by hard manmade structures. ^(https://www.blogquicker.com/goto/https://www.livingseawalls.com.au/mission)
Understandably, many of us are concerned about this loss and about the future, us tidepoolers included. Is every natural coastline destined to be bulldozed and replaced by concrete? Will we forever lose natural intertidal ecosystems? Will government protection move quickly enough to save threatened coasts or will privately funded developers get there first?
For those of you who aren’t nature lovers and perhaps aren’t particularly alarmed by this, let me explain. Destroying natural coastlines means losing populations of beautiful animals. But if this reason (sadly) isn’t enough, destroying these areas will mean the loss of seaweeds and sea grasses that are natural carbon sinks and filter toxic waste out of our water. It will mean the loss of nursery ecosystems for commercially important fish and invertebrates. And it will mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of sessile invertebrates that contribute to clean water through filter feeding, which in turn promotes community health, water recreation, and economic growth. We humans rely on the oceanic resource web for our livelihoods and that web begins to splinter when you remove intertidal/coastal ecosystems.
It’s pretty obvious that we should be concerned about construction in our seas, but we also must balance conservation and long-term sustainability with short-term, economic motives. If you halt all constructions and create a recession to preserve seafood security for a population that then has to move for economic reasons, you’ve done about as much harm as good.
So what’s the solution to all this? As you may have guessed, there isn’t a neat and tidy one, but one group that is trying to contribute to it is Living Seawalls ^(https://www.blogquicker.com/goto/https://www.livingseawalls.com.au/mission).
Living Seawalls Mission
The mission of the Living Seawalls project is simple: “Revolutionize the way we think about building in the ocean” by making it more ecologically minded.
If you’re into tide pooling, you’ve probably explored intertidal zones in developed areas like harbors or jetties While some animals are able to colonize these hard structures, most flat seawalls are lifeless as they lack the 3D textures, crevices, and indentations necessary for sessile animals to live. Where there was once a thriving natural habitat is now an ecological graveyard: producing nothing good and consuming nothing harmful.
Living Seawalls aims to change those flat harbor walls into living ecosystems that mimic natural, abiotic resources in the intertidal zone. They accomplish this by installing 3D-printed modular panels ^(https://www.blogquicker.com/goto/https://www.livingseawalls.com.au/design) that allow easier colonization of flat seawalls and other hard structures. Based in Australia, the project is backed by over 20 years of research that seeks to blend ecological concepts with engineering. They have been scientifically proven to increase biodiversity and support far more species than flat seawalls ^(https://www.blogquicker.com/goto/https://www.livingseawalls.com.au/overview-science). In Sydney Harbor, monitoring has shown that Living Seawalls panels are home to three times as many species as flat surfaces of similar age.
We all must realize that some manmade hard features in our oceans are necessary for one reason or another. But Living Seawalls emphasizes that “built structures can be designed from the outset to be ecologically sustainable, support biodiversity, and provide multiple end-user benefits.”
The Panels
Living Seawalls panels are an excellent example of blending ecology with modern engineering. Because manmade structures typically have smooth and flat surfaces, marine species struggle to colonize these areas that lack the diversity of naturally occurring habitats. Living Seawalls has sought to increase the surface area for animals to live in with a variety of textures and shapes on their panels.
With 7 different designs, scientists and engineers have together designed panels suited specifically for different species ^(https://www.blogquicker.com/goto/https://www.livingseawalls.com.au/design), to be placed at various intertidal depths. Ribboned panels are designed for oysters to latch onto. Swim-through panels create spaces between the panel and the hard structure for small fish to make their homes. Rockpool panels preserve water in simulated tide pools as a haven for invertebrates at low tide. And kelp holdfast panels provide ideal nooks for kelp and other algae to take hold. Living Seawalls also produces habitat-enhancing boulders that can be used for breakwalls and jetties. Instead of smooth angular concrete, these boulders provide textured surfaces and deep tide pools where animals can hide from the surf and predators. They even have features specific to attach to pier and wharf piling.
The panels can be installed on both new and existing structures. Over a period of months and years, invertebrates, algae, and fish colonize the area, creating a vibrant ecosystem much like you would find on a natural coast. Beyond the benefits to society, they are great areas for tide pooling!
Locations
Living Seawalls is an Australian project and most of the current installations are in Australia. However, there have been over 1500 panels installed since 2018 in more than 20 locations worldwide. There are installations in Singapore, Gibraltar and the United Kingdom and new panels are set to be installed in Boston and South Korea later this year.
Living Seawalls is a step in the right direction for sustainable and ecologically-minded construction. Not only do they champion the intertidal invertebrates (which we all love), but the mindset that these animals and their homes are worth considering when construction in the ocean is necessary. We need to protect as much of our natural coasts as possible, but so many of them are already built upon, as reefs are replaced with seawalls. Let’s do our best to make sure that these areas are still suitable for the animals whose homes were destroyed when they were built. Both for their good and for ours.
For more information about Living Seawalls, please see their website here. ^(https://www.blogquicker.com/goto/https://www.livingseawalls.com.au/mission)
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