Diventures Magazine | English Edition August 2020 | Page 20

19
MARINE SCIENCE
The first batch of 128 clay coral tiles was
printed and posted in July at three
locations within the park: Coral Beach,
Comoros Island, and Bay near the
WWF's Marine Life Center.
Scientists planted tiles about two feet
high with three types of coral fragments
before planting. Specially designed
grooves prevent sedimentation while
stabilizing fragments and removing parts
of coral that are floating. The use of
porous clays boosts coral growth, and
the project claims it is more
environmentally friendly than traditional
artificial coral structures made of
concrete and metal.
Monitoring the pilot program will
continue for the next year and a half. All
of the boxes in the beta have identical
grooves, but thanks to 3D printing,
scientists can freely change designs as
they see fit, Christian Lang, one of the
program leaders, for Fast Company.
"3D printing provides the advantage of
producing objects and parts more costeffectively,"
he says. "But its most
powerful feature is that it can print each
item with a different design without
increasing the cost."
If tile monitoring shows promising
results, the team hopes to spread the
model to other offshore sites.
Diventures Magazine August 2020