IntelliReefs CAN's first Canadian kelp restoration project deploying off of the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE) in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. (Photo: John Borbely and Cam Howlett)Melody Brenna, CEO and co-founder of IntelliReefs, compares Oceanite to a unique underwater concrete the Romans mixed thousands of years ago using volcanic ash, lime and volcanic rock. When poured into sea water, the concrete would crystallize and harden, forming underwater structures that are as strong today as when they were built. Oceanite is made with similar pozzolanic materials and is much more porous than ordinary concrete, creating a friendly landing pad throughout the structure for kelp zygotes, coral larvae and other juvenile organisms. While conventional concrete has a very high pH level, which repels nearly all organisms, Oceanite is much less alkaline, with a pH similar to the surrounding ocean. Its mineral composition can even be adjusted to match local geology.
Guyon Brenna, design director and co-founder of IntelliReefs, explains that the ReefShip concept is designed to allow the company to rapidly manufacture artificial reef modules in any shape and size, leading “entire degraded coastlines to be revitalized and protected using immense reef mimicking formations.”
Canadian researchers are still working on a formal study to document the overall success of the project, but early results are promising. Within a year of the ReefShip’s November 2021 deployment, videos and photos showed kelp and other organisms colonizing it. “There are crabs all over it,” says Melody Brenna. “You can see a thousand little fish swirling around it.”
Combined with work at other institutions to breed climate change-resistant kelp, corals and other species, Oceanite could be instrumental in regrowing depleted kelp and coral reefs and establishing new ones. These living sea walls could reduce the coastal impacts of storms super-charged by climate change — and last as long as ancient Roman ruins.
