Electrified Coral Reef Off Florida Gets Federal OK
By Matt J. Weiss, June 27, 2009 @ 01:58 AM (EST)
Source: Latimes
Reporting
from Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Fla. -- A proposal to install an
electrified artificial reef on the ocean floor off
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea has won approval from a key federal agency,
making it more likely that the high-tech conservation project will get
built.
The Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit to the town to work with Massachusetts-based Global Coral Reef Alliance to install a cluster of metal structures that would use a low-voltage current to stimulate the growth of corals -- creating habitat for fish and other marine creatures. The process has been used to construct artificial reefs in several other countries, including Mexico, Jamaica and Indonesia.
The Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit to the town to work with Massachusetts-based Global Coral Reef Alliance to install a cluster of metal structures that would use a low-voltage current to stimulate the growth of corals -- creating habitat for fish and other marine creatures. The process has been used to construct artificial reefs in several other countries, including Mexico, Jamaica and Indonesia.
Under the town's $65,000 contract with the
alliance, structures that resemble 6-foot-long Quonset huts would be
placed on the ocean floor in shallow water. Divers would collect pieces
of living coral that had been broken off by storms or ship groundings
and attach them to the metal structures. Two buoys equipped with solar
panels would provide the electricity through insulated cables. The
electrical current would draw dissolved minerals from the water,
causing the minerals to build up on the metal structures.
According to the group's website, corals grow three to five times faster under these conditions and stand a better chance of surviving stressful events such as increases in water temperature.
According to the group's website, corals grow three to five times faster under these conditions and stand a better chance of surviving stressful events such as increases in water temperature.
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