A artificial reef, formed by a hundred concrete biotopeswill surround the new Port Olímpic breakwater to attract marine biodiversity to this stretch of the Barcelona coastline. Installation will start at the beginning of 2023 and will last 7 months. These are pieces one meter high and two meters wide, with a design of organic shapes, full of cavities so that species such as gorgonians, groupers, conger eels, moray eels, sponges, octopuses or lobsters.
This reef, technically called bioregeneration, will cover an area of more than 1,300 square meters divided into 6 groups of biotopes. They will be fixed to the seabed by means of an anchoring system and the help of divers.
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The performance has a cost of about 98,000 euros and is part of the Port Olímpic transformation plan, which has several large-scale works underway and has been managed since 2020 by the Catalan capital through the municipal company B:SM. This port, created within the framework of the 1992 Games, is showing off a change of stage this week at the Saló Nàutic, where it has announced the new biotopes.
In the summer of 2021, a first action was already carried out to attract underwater biodiversity, with the naturalization of 300 of the 2,000 concrete blocks installed to reinforce the breakwater against the increasing effect of storms. Barcelona Zoo, also managed by B:SM, advises on this seabed regeneration process. “It is one more gesture of the Port Olímpic that we want: a living, dynamic space, committed to the generation of economic activity linked to the sea, and also to raising public awareness of the need to preserve the marine environment”, said the first lieutenant of mayor of the city, Jaume Collboni, in the presentation.