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With more than 100 underwater reefs and in order to increase biodiversity and encourage the proliferation of conger eels, sponges, groupers, moray eels, gorgonians, lobsters and octopuses, the City Council will install these structures in Barcelona’s Olympic Port.
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There will be several concrete structures one meter high and two meters wide, filled with cavities and holes for these underwater species to proliferate. These species require environments such as this one where they can take refuge in order to live.
Installation of the reefs is expected to begin in early 2023. All by means of an anchoring system and the help of divers.
These 100 reefs are in addition to the 2,000 concrete blocks that were installed in summer 2021 to line the seawall. Also to protect the port from the strong effects of storms.
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More than 300 of the 2,000 blocks installed were designed in the shape of natural elements such as rocks and caves that favored marine biodiversity.
On that occasion, the placement of the two thousand concrete blocks was intended to coat the seawall, encourage biodiversity and make it more resistant to the sea. This work at the time, had an investment of more than 10 million euros.
More than 100 underwater reefs in the Olympic Port of Barcelona
The current project is part of the transformation process of the Olympic Port that the Barcelona City Council is carrying out, with the aim of promoting the biological diversity of the area together with the Barcelona Zoo.
The concrete structures, or biotypes, are composed of prefabricated concrete elements and will be fixed to the seabed through an anchoring system with the help of divers.
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The biotope structures are about one meter high and two meters wide. They will be located underwater, between the seawall and the submerged dikes.
A total of 100 will be placed in six groups, forming a large bioregeneration reef of about 1,300 m² of surface area. With this, the Port Olímpic will have one hundred new artificial reefs to regenerate underwater life.
The project and its investment
The intervention will have a budget of 98,000 euros and will be carried out by the Barcelona City Council company BSM. The work will last seven months.
The collaborative work with the Barcelona Zoo seeks to strengthen the transformation process in which the Port Olímpic finds itself.
The transformation, in addition to favoring underwater life, is also aimed at opening the Port to the city through a new central access, encouraging the blue economy and its integration with marine activity, sustainability and new technologies.
It will also open spaces for entities of the sector and companies, as well as to renew the gastronomic offer of the pier.
