Transcript:
Over time, many coastal cities have developed their shorelines and built seawalls to protect them from erosion and flooding.
Christo: “So in Boston, for instance, a lot of the coastal areas used to be salt marshes and mudflats. … A lot of those edges have been hardened into granite seawalls.”
But Joe Christo of the nonprofit Boston Harbor Now says seawalls are inhospitable to shellfish, snails, and other coastal marine life.
Christo: “A lot of times they just don’t have those sort of nooks and crannies and crevices that really help nurture marine life, and it really hurts the biodiversity of regions where those seawalls exist.”
So Christo’s group is demonstrating a way to reduce the environmental harm of seawalls. They’ve worked with researchers, the city, and other groups to install living seawall panels at two waterfront sites in Boston.
The concrete panels are bolted onto existing seawalls and have crevices that mimic rocky tidal habitats.
They were installed almost two years ago and are already teeming with plants and animals.
Christo: “Seaweed and mussels, oysters, snails, and different types of fish also being present in the water near the seawalls as well, so it’s pretty exciting stuff.”
Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
