Swiss Start-Up Installs 3D Structures To Make Coral Feel At Home

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) An innovation from Zurich could well help halt the disappearance of coral reefs in the Philippines. The start-up has specifically created structures that attract polyps and encourage them to form colonies.

This content was published on June 25, 2024 - 11:00 2 minutes Charlotte Onfroy-Barrier, RTS

• Français fr Une start-up suisse installe des structures 3D pour que les coraux se sentent comme chez eux Original Read more: Une start-up suisse installe des structures 3D pour que les coraux se sentent comme chez eu
• Italiano it Una start-up svizzera costruisce“case” per coralli in 3D Read more: Una start-up svizzera costruisce“case” per coralli in 3

It's a technological and environmental challenge that should enable these tiny marine animals – the corals – to continue to exist.

To accommodate them, the young Zurich-based organisation Rrreefs has placed 100m2 of concrete bricks covered with terracotta clay off the coast of the Philippines. This coral“mini-hotel”, which required the printing of 820 modules, is designed to attract larvae.

Coral larvae have appeared in the artificial reef in the Philippines RTS

“The clay used is a very good substrate,” stresses the start-up's co-founder, Hanna Kuhfuss. Coral larvae also detect colour and“first settle on structures like this”, she explains.

Almost three months after the installation, the scientists made a pleasant discovery: larvae have already appeared in the artificial reef.“It's fantastic,” enthuses Kuhfuss, who explains that the organisms probably“settled in within a week”.

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This is a source of hope for the researchers, who are aiming to restore 700 kilometres of coastline by 2034, or 1% of the world's coral reefs.

“Given the desperate situation in which our reefs find themselves, we need ideas, and this is a good one,” says Christian Wild, professor of marine ecology at Bremen University.

According to the WWF, 30% to 50% of coral reefs could disappear by the end of the century. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is estimated to have lost half its surface area in the past 30 years.

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