- Full title Diseño y producción de un módulo de arrecife artificial para la protección y rehabilitación de ecosistemas costeros en la comunidad autónoma de Galicia
- Funding entity Xunta de Galicia
- Researchers Vicente Díaz Casás, Pablo Fariñas Alvariño, Sara Ferreño González, Alba Martínez López, Marcos Míguez González, Ángel Monteagudo Insua, Luis Carral Couce, Marcos Lema Rodríguez
- Start date 01/10/2010
- End date 30/09/2012
- Centro Tecnolóxico do Naval Galego
Description
Our main interest in this project was to design an artificial (production / protection) reef in order to create an effective instrument for managing fishery resources in Galicia, Northwestern Spain.
Artificial reefs have been used since ancient times and different materials have been employed for their construction. We have chosen specific materials, such as concrete, which minimise the impact on the marine environment. On the other hand, it is becoming more commonplace to use recycled materials as concrete ingredients due to increasingly severe environmental legislation.
We have analysed the possibility of incorporating waste generated in the shipbuilding and naval repair industry in the production of concrete. Although some of the residues we considered were suitable for the reefs, this option was rejected. Instead, we have tried to incorporate materials more akin to the marine environment.
When mussels are cultivated on “bateas”, and then transformed for market by the canning industry, waste from the shells is produced. This has to be removed. The possible use of these residues in the production of artificial reefs would have a dual advantage. First of all, it would eliminate waste, and secondly, return to the sea a product that has come from it, and as a result, is not alien to the environment.
The ultimate goal of this project has been the development of a native design for construction of artificial reefs using mussel shell waste in the manufacture of concrete. Thus, on the one hand, we have tried to make use of tons of already generated mussel shells. On the other hand, we have attempted to design a reef considering the innovative composition of the material used.