Sea Foundry's Development and Testing of Tessellate Nets

Sea Foundry collaborated with restoration experts and practicing organizations to  address the challenges of global coral reef degradation. This partnership capitalized on Sea Foundry's expertise in high volume manufacturing and the material handling practices that have been successful in the private sector. In particular, the concept of handling material in “batches” and collecting data about production and delivery accordingly allows for reduced cost and increased efficiency and scalability throughout the process. Combined with practitioner insights about which outplanting techniques best create sexually mature colonies from the micro fragmentation process, Tessellate Nets have been designed to not only reduce direct and indirect labor costs, but also transform nursery operations and improve restoration outcomes.

Sea Foundry's Tessellate Nets are designed to increase efficiency of the overall restoration process by clustering multiple micro fragments of the same genotype, or donor coral colony, onto a shared matrix substructure as a single unit. This practice is to ensure that all the individual fragments are kept together in a batch, during both aquaculture growth phases as well as the transplantation back to the reef, where they can fuse together to create a larger colony capable of re-seeding the degraded ecosystem. It is critical that the substrate be flexible in order to conform with varied topology of the environment, and durable enough to create a sturdy attachment to the reef even with high surge and seasonal storms. Lastly, ensuring the substrate can be made from a material that does not damage the environment through microplastics or other adverse degradation, and this product has a set of complex requirements.

After multiple rounds of iteration with a wide variety of materials, SeaFoundry was able to match a manufacturing process called injection molding, with a material that was able to meet the mechanical requirements called polycaprolactone. This thermoplastic is commonly used in stents and other medical devices, and is durable but can be degraded over time in the marine environment through bacterial metabolism. This breakthrough enabled SeaFoundry to design geometries that could be produced at scale and enable the practitioners with a streamlined approach to handling both in the nursery and at the outplanting site.
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To test these designs, more than 500 fragments comprising multiple species and individual genotypes of coral were populated onto the Tessellate nets at several locations, including Mote Marine Lab’s Summerland Key nursery and the Center for Marine Innovation in Punta Cana. Here, they were evaluated for their ability to streamline aquaculture growth by eliminating labor associated with labeling the ceramic or concrete plugs that are typically used to carry individual micro fragments, and the difficulties of keeping them clustered during operations like cleaning or transit in preparation for outplanting.  This iterative evaluation and refinement was guided by a diverse network of restoration experts with experience in on-land micro fragmentation and husbandry techniques.

About 4 months after fragmenting the corals onto the Tessellate Nets and providing husbandry for them in the land based nurseries, outplanting teams loaded them into coolers for outplanting. Because the units, called Tessellate Nets, are easier to transport than a multitude of individual plugs, loading the boat and offloading them into the water was a more streamlined process, and most importantly, because they are modular and flexible, divers were able to more efficiently handle the groupings of corals that can be tacked "matt" onto the reef.

Testing saw that a single diver could be more than 50 times as efficient using the nets and modified pneumatic tools designed to help affix them to the reef. This minimizes dive time per coral, which is one of the most expensive components of restoration as it consists of labor, gas, and boat maintenance.

To determine the success of the project, SeaFoundry is also collaborating with partners who participated in the outplanting trials to deploy a comprehensive monitoring system to evaluate coral health and reef biodiversity, measuring the impact of Tessellate Nets on restoration efficiency. Early assessments indicated significant improvements in outplanting efficiency, validating the efficacy of the collaborative approach.

Encouraged by initial successes, Sea Foundry and Mote Marine Lab plan to scale their partnership to new regions, introducing Tessellate Nets to enhance global coral restoration efforts. The scalability of this collaboration promises widespread impact, with adaptations planned for vulnerable marine environments worldwide.

The partnership between Sea Foundry and Mote Marine Lab signifies the transformative potential of collaborative innovation in marine conservation. By synergizing technological advancements with ecological expertise, this collaboration has achieved remarkable strides in coral restoration efficiency. As they continue to refine their efforts, Sea Foundry and Mote Marine Lab remain steadfast in their commitment to preserving marine biodiversity and engaging communities in environmental stewardship. This case study serves as a testament to the power of partnership and innovation in safeguarding the health and resilience of our planet's vital coral ecosystems.