ElectroReefs

The rising global temperatures and changing oceanic pH levels brought on by climate change impact corals and alter coral reef communities by prompting coral bleaching events and altering ocean chemistry. These impacts affect corals and the many organisms that use coral reefs as habitats. Biorock Technology, or mineral accretion technology is a method that applies low voltage electrical currents through seawater, causing dissolved minerals to crystallize on the rebar structures, growing into a white limestone similar to that which naturally makes up coral reefs. By encouraging coral growth, habitat for marine organisms is created which can, in the long run, aid the fishing and tourism industry in countries across the world. The TAM of this space is the global market for coral reefs, valued at $11.9 trillion. The SAM of the space is the value of coral restoration in India which is valued at $375 billion.

Through the process of ocean acidification, as carbon dioxide in the ocean increases, ocean pH decreases or becomes more acidic. With ocean acidification, corals cannot absorb the calcium carbonate they need to maintain their skeletons, and the stony skeletons that support corals and reefs can dissolve. About 25 percent of all marine life, including over 4,000 species of fish, are dependent on coral reefs at some point in their life cycle and hence need them to survive. Moreover, dying corals also lead to changes in fish communities and lead to fewer catches of fishers targeting reef fish species, drastically impacting food supply and fishing-associated economic activities. With about 500 million people worldwide being economically dependent on coral reef fisheries, these fish community changes due to the death of coral reefs are directly affecting livelihoods. Global costs of coral bleaching also suggest that reef degradation from bleaching could cost from $20 billion to over $84 billion in Net Present Value (over a 50-year time horizon). The losses to tourism are highest ($10 billion – $40 billion losses), followed by fisheries ($7.0 billion – $23.0 billion), and biodiversity ($6 billion – $22 billion). The dying reefs directly relate to our solution which aims to aid fishers by regrowing dead or dying reefs, ensuring fishing is conducted in a sustainable manner.

In order to develop a resilient ecosystem, we will utilize BioRock™ technology in order to revive dead reefs across the coasts of India and the Maldives. The technology consists of dual anode-cathode rebar structures that are powered by low voltage underground cables capable of stimulating the electrodes, causing electrolysis of limestone. This leads to the rapid deposition of limestone upon the given rebar structures. The solution would exponentially increase the growth of coral that would absorb the deposited materials. We aim to rely on sustainable energy from drift currents to provide a low voltage that would generate significant power for the rebar structures. The structures we plan to implement would be adapted to the specific reef that we would be reviving but would majorly consist of networks of rebar rods that would act at the surface for electrolysis. In the long run, the solution increases biodiversity and the marine population significantly. The marine ecosystem would be restored with an increase in coral population, inadvertently leading to an increase in marine biodiversity as the coral attract different fish and underwater wildlife, as the electrolysis would produce calcium carbonate, the major component of coral skeletons.

By using BioRock to encourage coral growth and hence increase fish populations, we can directly help improve the lives of the fishers that are deeply damaged by global climate change. Due to the fact that they are underrepresented in India and are regarded to be of low incomes, fishers have to engage in overfishing to ensure their income is sufficient to sustain their day-to-day work. Coastal villages also require the reefs to prevent the high tide from breaking apart their homes and damaging their properties as the reefs act as natural barriers that cause waves to crash. The problem at hand not only consists of the dying ecosystems and marine life but also the depleting incomes of the local fishers and the destruction of several coastal villages due to high tide that was not barricaded against. Due to excessive coral bleaching as a result of global warming, the reefs present in India are currently dying at an unprecedented rate and with their unfortunate death, they pose a great threat to the local communities of fishers that rely on rich biodiversity and populations of fish to sustain their income.  Their current needs are more fish that would retain their income, right now the marine population and diversity is decreasing and hence decreasing their incomes. With the help of BioRock, local fishers would be able to ensure that the reef is continuously being powered and they would be pivotal at ensuring that the reef is successful. Increasing marine biodiversity would also help improve the whole tourism industry by promoting water sports like scuba diving.

Our solution uses BiorockTM technology to restore dead reefs in areas deeply affected by natural disasters and human encroachment. Human encroachment and natural disasters have drastically damaged the coastal villages of India that would require the reefs to prevent the high tide from breaking apart their homes and damaging their properties as the reefs act as natural barriers that cause waves to crash. As climate change compounded with COVID-19 has deeply afflicted the local fishery communities, this solution aims to rejuvenate their sources of income and give them opportunities to become part of a sustainable and financially rewarding future.

Through our concept of Biorock™, we aim to build a network of restored reefs across India whilst working on government and institutional grants as well as specific requests from particular beachside resorts. These reefs would be reliant on the open-source technology developed by Doctor Goreau but would be implemented in a manner that enables reefs that have died from coral bleaching to rejuvenate. By expanding across the Indian subcontinent and Maldives, we aim to create employment for local communities that would monitor the development of the reefs as well as the power supply. The model would be feasible on a larger scale but we yet require finances to help it grow to such an extent. Our concept has been backed by ecological institutes in India that would be working in tandem with us to restore reefs that have not been brutally damaged due to mankind’s careless activities

We aim to efficiently use the current resources present in the seawater itself to bolster the growth of the coral as we observed that the coral would absorb smaller amounts of calcium carbonate from the water and hence would take years to develop. Our mission would create great depositions of calcium carbonate on the surface of our rebar structures that could potentially sustain vast ecosystems of coral. The coral would not be damaged by the low voltage current and would benefit from the limestone that forms on the rods by absorbing it to extend their skeletal structure. Moreover, the placement of these rods would allow the coral to grow without the usage of aggressive tactics, allowing them to expend larger amounts of their energy on growth. The coral would fully be able to develop on these reef structures only after a given time period but the structures would also attract other forms of marine life that would create a diverse and rich ecosystem. By using simplistic wiring techniques that connect the electrodes to the sustainable battery we put in place, we would be providing coral with nutrients essential to its growth; with the growth of the coral, the local communities and fishers would greatly benefit as they would be able to increase their levels of tourism. On a global scale, the increased coral would also reduce the impacts of high tide on local communities and also absorb greater amounts of carbon dioxide to reverse the effects of global warming.

Once implemented, the solution would take time to serve the people of Andaman Nicobar but would provide them with employment opportunities. Initially starting with 4-5 workers ensuring that power is continuously supplied from the grid to the reef, we would soon expand to the whole fishing community of India and then the Maldives. In one year, it would be sufficient to serve over 5,000 fishers and most of the residents of Andaman Nicobar as the tourism would increase with the developing coral reefs and this would enable the islands to ensure that the revenue obtained from the reef structures is utilized to further develop the reefs. In 5 years, there would be a significant impact across India and Maldives with the tourism and marine industries greatly benefiting from a more diverse ecosystem and increased marine flora and fauna. We would aim to contact over 10 hotels and work in tandem with them to provide them with our coral building serves as a revenue stream for us. Our estimated growth for the first year indicates that we will be able to expand from only 10 lives to over 10,000 by the start of the second financial quarter next year. 

This would also impact the tourism industry that has been severely damaged by the pandemic and hence these reefs would be ideal for rejuvenating marine tourism within India as we develop reefs in different areas of India and the Maldives. 

As our solution is dependent on the deposition of calcium carbonate at each reef we revive, the indicators that we would utilize initially would be both the average rate of deposition of calcium carbonate as well as the average growth of the coral. Using both of these indicators would enable us to sufficiently understand the extent to which our solution has been successful. As we move into the long run, however, our impact goals would be measured by conducting a comprehensive analysis of the beach structure to understand the reduction in beach erosion since the placement of the Biorock structures. To further analyze the efficacy of the structures, we will use marine biodiversity indicators and work in tandem with local fishers to examine the impact the Biorock reef has had both on their communities and their job. Using these indicators would help us make the Biorock structures more efficient after careful consideration of social, environmental, and economic factors.  Such indicators would be extremely specific but certain indicators such as the happiness index of the local communities may also be considered. We would compare our results with those achieved by over 500 Biorock structures in other countries. By using historical data as a comparison, we would be able to see the overall coral development.

The team currently comprises three core members working full time as well as two doctors from the ZSI, doctor Satyanarayana and Doctor Gok. There are several other members from the ZSI that have partnered with us for this solution.

Our team consists of Siddhant Sukhani who is a Rescue diver with over 7 years of underwater experience, 5 specialities and first aid responder, working in tandem with the ZSI and Doctor Thomas J. Goreau to develop more solutions such as this and optimise cost using financial regression models; Maya Pillai is India’s youngest freediver and a Master Scuba Diver with over 7 years of underwater experience and has built the world's first artificial reef made of egg shell waste and cement. She has 3 years of reef building experience as well as 8 published primary research papers and abstracts about sustainable development, climate change and conservation at international conferences; Ishaan Singh is an AI and ML engineer working on technological products that are profit generating and have a positive social impact stretching across fields of mental health, digital pandemic technologies, equitable education and financial inclusivity.

Team ElectroReefs is partnered with the Zoological Survey of India, the leaders of the coral reef construction and restoration in India. Our team consists of Siddhant Sukhani, Maya Pillai and Ishaan Singh. Our aim is to build a diverse team with committed individuals from around the world. Our affiliation with ZSI has added Dr. Satyanarayana and Dr. Gok, leaders in the ecological diversity space. Our next step is to build our team to include more members from the target local communities such as coastal villages and committed individuals with experience and genuine interest in this space. We aim to expand our affiliation with Dr. Thomas Goreau and other professors researching and focusing on ecological diversity. 

MIT Solve has represented and advanced truly innovative technology solutions that have and will have massive impacts on economies, environments, and societies. We look at MIT Solve as a multi-functional platform to receive the guidance, funding, and connections that as students in India we may not have access to. Coral Reef restoration is a crucial endeavor that must be undertaken to maintain the marine ecosystem and its ecological diversity. There is a lack of private investment in ecological restoration projects in India due to the lack of awareness of the growing issue and the existing solutions. Solve helps provide the required funding to grow and scale operations and make a meaningful impact on not just the marine ecosystem, but the economics of coastal villages and fisherman towns in India, and around the world. As India transitioned from a primary sector-based economy to increasing production, a negative externality caused by rapid expansion has been a toll on the environment. Pollution, global warming, and climate change have impacted the environment and animal ecosystems, which in turn have begun to affect the economy as a whole. Because of the pandemic, any money allocated to ecological restoration has been shifted to human healthcare and infrastructure, leaving the environment most vulnerable. Capital acquired through Solve will directly help scale operations in India and the network of partners at Solve will allow us to make our project a global venture.

The solution proposed by our team aims to reverse the effects caused by coral bleaching through the implementation of Biorock™  reefs in the areas most damaged such as the Andaman Nicobar Islands. To do so, we would require to surpass several legal and regulatory barriers posed by the Indian government for the development of a Reef and the transportation of dead coral. As this solution would eventually spread to a large scale, we would require human capital to aid with the implementation of the solution in certain regions that may be remote or may require more manpower to efficiently be restored. 

The two aforementioned factors would be our major requirements from our potential partners as they would help us overcome the major barriers that currently prevent us as minors from achieving a sustainable goal. The aid that we would be provided from our partners would enable us to tackle hurdles such as regulatory frameworks and an overall lack of human capital in order to ensure that the solution may easily be scaled to a larger extent.

We would like to partner with the Global Coral Reef Alliance headed by Dr Goreau who has mentored us through this whole process. Our aim would be to work in tandem with the GCRA in order to make the solution a more global one. As previously solutions have been implemented by MIT alumni Dr. Goreau and his associates at MIT, we wish to exponentially increase the scale of the solutions offered by developing the dilapidated reefs of India and utilising the technology in a sustainable manner. Apart from the GCRA, we currently aim to partner with the Zoological Survey of India that would have the necessary scientists on board who would be able to significantly help us improve our solution and help us tweak it as required depending on the reef we would be dealing with. Our collaboration with the ZSI would prove to be fruitful as they would have the resources that could help us potentially scale our solution throughout India.

Yes, we would like to be considered for this price as we recognize the prevalent issues surrounding the marine ecosystem as the levels of illegal fishing and forced labor have drastically increased due to insufficient resources to sustain the incomes of fishers in the current day and age. Our solution offers fishers secondary income streams as well as an increase in the overall diversity of fish that they would be able to catch. Moreover, as our solution may be implemented in fisheries, it would exponentially increase their rate of growth by sustainably incrementing the requirements at the bottom of the food chain - coral. By reviving artificial reefs using the Biorock™  technology, we would be able to ensure that these reefs and the oceans surrounding them reach a flourishing state by 2030 as they would imbibe an overall increment in biodiversity as the coral grows on top of these reefs. As our mission aligns with that of the Minderoo Foundation, we aim to sustainably reverse the impact global warming has had on the marine ecosystems of the world by using technology to revive bleached/dead reefs.