Stone-Ideas.com 
“RestReef“ is the name of an EU research project dedicated to artificial structures for the colonization of these marine communities. Participating are the Spanish Ct Mármol, a technical center for the stone sector there, the Portuguese diving initiative Justdive, and the University of Dubrovnik in Croatia. The University of Porto is the lead partner. This raises the question: What do these institutions have to do with the restoration of reefs, which we previously believed to be a phenomenon of tropical seas?
But there are also reefs in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. For example, a strip stretches from Gibraltar to the Lofoten Islands off northern Norway. There, the reef animals have adapted to the low water temperatures.
A few years ago, it was a sensation when scientists discovered living reefs off southern Italy. Previously, only dead structures from the distant past had been known. Incidentally, these were the origins of the North Sea’s colonization.
Unlike coral reefs of the South Seas, however, the corals of the North Sea are less vibrant and grow very slowly.
Incredible but true: Some have developed adventurous adaptations to depths of more than 100 meters, where hardly any light reaches arrives. Even there, the symbiosis of their polyps with algae (zooxanthellae) still functions, resulting in the polyps extracting dissolved calcium carbonate from the water and depositing it in the form of reefs.
A special feature of the North is the red coral, whose fan-shaped structures are used to make jewelry.
In both places, these structures are threatened. The sea along the coast is polluted, in some places carrying large amounts of fertilizer, and climate change is raising water temperatures.
Concepts have already been developed all over the world to support reef-building animals with artificial structures. These can be boulders lying on the seabed near the coast, to which the polyps can attach themselves. Ideally, the rocks’ outer skin should exhibit unevenness, fractures, and cracks.
There’s even more to the case for second-choice natural stone as reef material: its ecological footprint is minimal because, unlike concrete elements, it doesn’t have to be produced.
Furthermore, it’s available in virtually unlimited quantities, namely as waste in every quarry and as debris in front of every rock face.
However, the whole thing only makes ecological sense if the stone comes from near the coast.
As is usual with such research funded by Brussels, the project must deliver more: First, various EU countries must be involved to live up to the idea of community.
Second, it aims to stimulate economic development: This is achieved here by placing learning modules on the artificial construction of reefs at the core of the project, so that interested individuals can obtain qualifications. This is expected to create jobs, not only in marine conservation but also in tourism.
The idea of placing rocks off the coast is not new. Greenpeace has already had rocks thrown into the sea off the German Baltic coast and the British North Sea coast, partly with the aim of stopping trawling.
A few years ago, there was discussion about whether boulders of a certain size could be used to stabilize offshore wind farms.
New York City has a five-borough coastal defense program using stone.
New York City coastal defense program
