We're loving the sea to death. We swim into it, live near it, build beside it, and even imagine about living under the sea. For much of our history, we have turned to "hard engineering" to control the marine environment and manage its influence on us. We build dams, sea walls and channels. But all these efforts seem to fail, because we've not been thinking about design of structures with respect to ecology. Some coastal structures create shade, which reduces the growth of seaweed. Bright lights at night contuse species such as turtles. That's why blue engineering comes in.
Johnson, a marine ecologist, is advocating for "blue engineering" — the marine version of the "green engineering" movement on land that has seen nations like Singapore building the walls and roofs of the concrete jungle with plant life.
Researchers with the World Harbour Project are creating tiles similar to the natural structures found on rocky shores with 3D printing technology. These make more attractive homes for marine creatures. Researchers are also actively seeding these tiles with local seaweeds and creatures such as the Sydney rock oyster, which is particularly good at improving water quality. Twelve harbors around the world are taking part in this marine tile experiment, each working with their own unique marine life.
It's a far cry from the days when huge numbers of old tyres were thrown into the sea to build "artificial reefs". Those early attempts are now costing millions to remove, showing just how far we have yet to go in understanding how best to co-habit with the underwater world.