A Little intro into Dr. Thomas Goreau & his BIOROCK – the focus of our upcoming shoot in the Republic of the Marshall Islands…

Coral reefs across the planet are in a critical state. As ocean temperatures continue to rise the reefs are more and more prone to ‘Coral Bleaching’. This is a phenominom that happens when the coral’s symbiotic relationship with the algae that lives in the coral (this gives the coral it’s color) is stressed due to these rise in temperatures and algae leaves —  the coral, which relies on the algae to provide it food eventually starves.  What compounds the severity of this problem is that 1/4 of all ocean life lives in these reefs, many of these species rely on the coral to provide them a habitat and protection from predators, once these reefs die, the chances for the other reef life to survive is severely compromised.

For the past few decades Dr. Thomas Goreau has been developing a process to restore the challenged tropical reefs of the world — it is called BIOROCK. Thomas, a third generation diving scientist has developed a system that uses submerged and electrically charged metal cages to induce the growth of coral in these challenged environments. This is made possible by the chemical reaction the electricity has with the submerged structures, it produces calcium carbonate; a coating that forms on the cage and is virtually identical to the natural reef substance (its home or shell). BIOROCK Coral has been documented to grow up to 10 times it’s regular rate!

Photos of BIOROCK structures being installed.

This video does a great job explaining Coral Bleaching…