Beneath the waves of the Spanish Mediterranean Sea lies one thing outstanding: the Pure Artwork Reef (NAR). This family-led undertaking is a group of greater than 400 pure reef constructions that deliver the regenerative energy of the ocean to nature, artwork, science, and even tourism.
We spoke with co-founder, Max Rota, to be taught extra about NAR’s mission, strategies, and magic, in addition to how we will all work collectively to defend what we love.
Saving the Ocean Throughout Generations
The Rota household’s reference to the ocean and its important coral reefs spans three generations.
“Diving has at all times been a part of our story. My grandfather was already diving within the Mediterranean again when only a few individuals did,” says Max. He additionally credit his father, Miquel, with instructing him that science and keenness can go collectively. “That’s type of the place it began. He created NAR to satisfy his dream of constructing the Mediterranean a extra alive place.
“It began with the cultivation of stay rock for aquariums. My father was among the many first in Spain to do that, and he realized it may very well be scaled up — not as ornament, however as a dwelling aquarium for the ocean itself.”
Restoring Our Blue Planet, One Pure Reef at a Time
At the moment, Pure Artwork Reef is a rising non-profit on a mission to revive marine ecosystems, utilizing pure reef designs that increase biodiversity whereas performing as dwelling labs for analysis and ocean conservation.
Thus far, the workforce has put in three reef parks throughout totally different depths and habitats. Every one gives distinctive insights about how ecosystems reply and get well. These pure reef constructions additionally serve many functions, together with:
- Eco-friendly moorings
- Restoration parks
- Selling new protected areas
- Internet hosting sensors for real-time ocean knowledge
An Synthetic Reef That Feels Like Residence
When most individuals consider synthetic reef constructions, they think about tropical coral nurseries or shipwrecks. Nonetheless, issues are totally different within the Mediterranean.
“Historically, synthetic reefs right here have been used as fishing deterrents, fish attractors, or breakwaters — typically with easy, unnatural shapes and little ecological considering behind them,” Max explains.
As an alternative, with a mission grounded in sustainability and a philosophy that nature is aware of finest, NAR’s pure reef constructions mimic actual underwater habitats. The workforce’s diving roots permit them to see how marine life behaves, strikes, and interacts to allow them to design reef varieties tailor-made to ecological objectives.
The Pure Method to Reef Restoration
“It’s not about dropping constructions within the water. It’s about designing area in a method that feels pure, helpful, and acquainted to marine life,” says Max. “We determined to create reef constructions that weren’t simply synthetic, however pure in each sense: form, texture, and materials.”
When nature acknowledges one thing as habitat, life comes quick. That’s the magic of it.”
Max Rota
That’s why they grew to become the primary to make use of marine calcium carbonate, the identical materials that kinds coral skeletons and seashells.
“It’s not simply environmentally pleasant; it’s ecologically significant. We keep away from synthetic shapes and as a substitute use natural, irregular kinds that resemble actual rocky reefs — selling water circulate, shelter availability, and colonization,” Max continues. “The result’s a construction that turns into a part of the ecosystem.”
El Biotop: The First Pure Reef of Its Variety
Pure Artwork Reef’s largest and most iconic undertaking, El Biotop, lies 34m (112 ft) deep off the Catalonian coast, about an hour south of Barcelona.
Max remembers how the inspiration got here throughout a household journey to the Pink Sea: “We dived round an unbelievable submerged pinnacle. We have been amazed at how life thrived in such a naturally vertical, advanced construction.”
El Biotop was a turning level for the Rota household in understanding and implementing blue infrastructure. “Let’s imagine that it’s the first of its kind on the planet,” says Max. “[It’s] a mountain made with pure rocks rising as tall as a four-story constructing and with an space the scale of a soccer area.”
A Sport Changer for Marine Conservation
Since its creation, El Biotop has grow to be a sanctuary for over 300 Mediterranean marine species, lots of them protected or endangered. It’s a nursery, a feeding floor, and even a cleansing station. Mola mola commonly go to what’s now their ‘pure spa’.
“Essentially the most superb half? Hundreds of corals have began to recruit naturally, with out transplantation or synthetic strategies,” Max reveals. “That’s the ability of letting nature take the lead when the circumstances are proper.”
Utilizing low-impact supplies and set up strategies, and dealing with different scientists, Pure Artwork Reef makes certain these reef constructions will proceed to learn native biodiversity and ecosystems over time.
As well as, NAR’s reef parks present a focus for Spanish ecotourism. Divers and different ocean adventurers can expertise the great thing about the Mediterranean whereas studying concerning the significance of coral reefs and conservation.
Diving To Defend Pure Reef Buildings
Max’s father, Miquel, based M. Rota Diving in 2002 to make Pure Artwork Reef’s initiatives accessible to everybody.
“It’s a dive middle that’s at all times been greater than only a place to dive, it’s a bridge in the direction of marine conservation and restoration,” says Max. “It’s our method of inviting individuals to hitch our trigger and be ‘a part of the ocean.’”
Certainly, M. Rota Diving is now a PADI 5-Star Teacher Growth Heart that makes a speciality of adaptive diving alongside hands-on conservation. From the Port of Torredembarra, divers can see first-hand the regenerative energy of pure reef constructions like El Biotop whereas studying concerning the ecosystems they’re exploring.
Bringing Science and Ardour Collectively
By citizen science packages, M. Rota Diving and NAR are additionally educating divers on tips on how to acquire ecological knowledge, monitor marine life, and even participate in restoration efforts to assist sort out threats to coral reefs.
“The individuals who have been diving with us because the starting are a part of our story. They witnessed the complete course of, from the primary stones, and helped make all of it doable. We’d not be the place we’re with out those that believed within the imaginative and prescient and selected to dive in with us,” says Max. “That’s why we consider getting concerned is not only doable, it’s important.”
Be a A part of Ocean Change
By making the underwater world accessible to all, PADI Mission Hubs, like M. Rota Diving, are empowering individuals around the globe to expertise, discover, and defend our blue planet. United by a shared perception in a steadiness between humanity and ocean, the Torchbearer group is main a strong motion to take native motion for world impression.
Able to create #OceanChange? Flip your ardour into objective by taking the Torchbearer pledge and searching for out conservation actions in your space.
