‘Reef balls’ assist Stratford shoreline renewal

A former shoreline gun club site in Stratford ”” once contaminated by accumulated lead shot and now a park ”” looks to spill into a healthy reef system, with help from Sacred Heart University”™s biology department in collaboration with American manufacturer DuPont and the Connecticut Audubon Society.

“Reef balls” that attract sea life and curb erosion were placed in the reclamation area this month. The Stratford Point experimental project is associated with Fairfield-based SHU”™s Environmental Science & Management science master”™s program.

The university team includes biology professors Jennifer Mattei, Mark Beekey, John Rapaglia and LaTina Steele. According to Mattei, the experimental living shoreline restoration involves graduate and undergraduate students, community volunteers and public education outreach and provides SHU students with a long-term research project of importance to coastal health.

Designed by DuPont engineers and SHU biology faculty, this new type of living shoreline, according to Mattei, dissipates wave energy, reducing erosion and increasing fine-grained sediment deposition for salt marsh colonization. It also will speed the establishment of the marine estuary community and make an ideal habitat for the colonization of a number of species, including shorebirds, turtles, fish and shellfish.

Mattei said the material used to make the reef components creates a high-strength, abrasion-resistant concrete that has a pH similar to natural sea water but lower than regular concrete, which could inhibit the settlement and growth of marine species. Micro silica gives the reef balls an expected life of 500 or more years. They are made without iron rebar, which would cause cement to eventually degrade in the water.