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Ready to green your grey infrastructure? Discover Ecoreef

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Ecoreef eco-engineered mooring reefs in Fujairah, UAE
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Case Study: Turning Grey Infrastructure Green

Marine mooring is essential across ports, harbors, marinas, aquaculture and coastal developments – but conventional concrete mooring blocks sit on the seabed as inert, grey infrastructure. They deliver little ecological value and often smother the habitats around them. We saw an opportunity to change that: to make the mooring block itself work for the marine environment rather than against it.

Ecoreef is an eco-engineered mooring reef that replaces the traditional concrete block with an engineered reef structure, designed to support juvenile fish, encourage coral recruitment and enhance marine biodiversity. Conceived during the UAE’s ‘Year of Sustainability’ as part of our Drive Change philosophy, and developed over three years with renowned artificial reef expert and marine ecologist Dr. Aaron Bartholomew, Ecoreef turns passive marine infrastructure into living underwater habitat.

Unlike systems that simply attract existing fish, Ecoreef is designed around production – creating refuge for juvenile fish during their most vulnerable early life stages to improve survivorship and support local fisheries. It pairs with Ecomoor, our neutrally buoyant mooring line, which floats clear of the seabed to prevent the scouring and habitat damage caused by traditional mooring chains. Together they let operators replace conventional moorings with small-investment, big-impact systems that build habitat as they hold.

Following trial deployments in Fujairah from August 2025 and an official launch on World Oceans Day 2026, underwater monitoring – carried out with Fujairah Research Centre (FRC) and university partners – has already recorded juvenile snappers and groupers (hammour) sheltering on the structures, alongside coral settlement, filter-feeding native oysters and a widening range of biodiversity. Early results point to clearer water and the return of species that matter, both ecologically and commercially.

Patent-pending and manufactured across the UK and UAE, Ecoreef is part of Ecocoast’s wider commitment to greening grey infrastructure – building ecological value into the marine assets our coastlines depend on. Monitoring in Fujairah continues, with further results shared as the reefs mature.

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