Reefense: Military Exploring Reef Growing to Protect Shorelines ... and Maybe Drawdown Global-Warming CO2
Breakwaters are expensive. That's why the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is exploring ways to grow reefs as a cheaper way to protect installations on the coast. Ideally, such reefs would be maintenance free and self-repairing. If they succeed, their methods could also help protect civilian facilities as well. In December 2020, Homeland Preparedness News reported on the start of the new program: " DARPA rolls out Reefense program to protect military installation from coastal storm damage ." The Economist of September 11, 2021 reported on continuing efforts ("Ocean Reefs Hybrid Vigour," page 78). The basic concept is to encourage the natural processes of reef building by corals in warm waters and oysters in cooler waters. That entails providing some foundation material for the reef-building organisms to attach to. Then, then the reef encouraging researchers must protect reef-builders from predators and pollution. If they succ...