Three football fields’ worth of specially textured concrete is about to line parts of San Diego Bay, designed not just to hold back waves but to create habitat in nooks shaped like natural tide pools. The Port of San Diego is installing 1,060 linear feet of this habitat-focused shoreline armor at two bay locations after years of testing showed it dramatically out-performed ordinary rock riprap at supporting marine life.
The material, called ECOncrete COASTALOCK, is built to do double duty: stabilizing the shoreline while creating habitat that mimics natural tide pools, according to the Port of San Diego. In a two-year pilot project that launched in 2020, the units doubled species richness and abundance, increased native biodiversity, and produced twice the biomass compared to conventional shoreline armoring, the port reports. 10News also reported on the project, which the port has described as a success.
How the Pilot Took Shape
The roots of the project trace back to 2019, when the port approved an ECOncrete pilot under its Blue Economy Incubator Program specifically to enhance the ecology of riprap armor protecting Harbor Island, according to the port’s industry trade publication coverage in Civil Engineering Source. ECOncrete completed the first COASTALOCK installation along Harbor Island in March 2021, placing 74 units across two 75-foot sections of shoreline. The port and ECOncrete then monitored the installation for two years to evaluate how well it held up structurally and ecologically, the trade publication notes.
That monitoring turned up measurable differences from the rock it replaced. Researchers found increasing trends of species richness on the COASTALOCK units compared with the adjacent riprap stone, and significantly higher biomass accumulation, including both organic and inorganic matter, per the same report. The Port and ECOncrete monitored the installation for two years, with measurable gains in species richness and biomass compared with adjacent riprap.
A Second Pilot Waits on Permits
The port isn’t stopping with ECOncrete. The Board of Port Commissioners has approved a separate Blue Economy Incubator pilot with a company called Ocean Ecostructures, which has the potential to increase biodiversity in San Diego Bay, the port announced. Ocean Ecostructures plans to install 30 specially designed units on existing infrastructure around the bay, aiming to support continued marine-life growth without adding new shoreline structures…