This 17-Year-Old from Mumbai has Created India's First 3D-Printed Coral Reef to Protect Marine Life

This 17-Year-Old from Mumbai has Created India's First 3D-Printed Coral Reef to Protect Marine Life

This is no news that global warming is on the verge of destroying the planet, and we, as humans should be ashamed. Rising temperature, depleting conventional resources, deforestation and pollution is causing harm to humans, wildlife and marine animals. Global warming is also the reason behind the death of corals, which protect the many aquatic organisms and also contribute in decreasing water pollution and erosion.

So, this young boy from Mumbai, known as Siddharth Pillai has come up with a solution to protect marine animals through his 3D-printed modular-artificial reef. Now, what is it?

To begin with, it is India’s first 3D-printed coral, and it is built to support marine life that finds protection under this coral reef. It will be an adventure for marine researchers and biologists to see how it develops and supports the marine life.

The man behind India’s first 3D-printed coral reef, Siddharth is only 17, but his passion to save the marine life is out-of-this-world. As a scuba diver, Pillai has been exploring the depth of oceans since five long years. During one of his dives, a bleaching coral reef caught his attention.  He started learning about the coral bleaching and its effect on the ocean, marine life, and the environment. That’s when he decided to find a way to stop coral bleaching.

“I decided to work to the best of my ability to contribute towards rescuing these marine animals, as I felt like I owed it to them.” Pillai told a source.

It took him a 45-day course to make the artificial model which is largely made of just a skeleton on which polyps can grow. These polyps support millions of marine organisms. So, when the temperature of the ocean rises above 31 degrees, these polyps leave their bacteria which results in them losing their color and their main sources of nutrition. After the process of bleaching is completed, the corals die within 30 days.

With unshakeable faith and determination, Siddharth came up with his first coral blueprint which was made with a cement and dolomite mix. He designed the coral in such a way that the polyps could attach themselves to the artificial reef blocks he created, for survival.  It took him six months to finally call it a success.

He also raised Rs. 2 lakh through a crowd funding platform and built a better, bigger model before he exhibited the same in Puducherry with the help of Temple Adventures, his dive centre.

Apart from saving marine life, the artificial reef will also help fishes escape the net.

“Puducherry is blessed with a wonderful marine ecosystem, but over the last few decades, restless overfishing has destroyed its coral and killed its fish", added Siddharth. The young lad is now working hard to start a Reef Building Programme, under which, people, especially divers will be able to contribute their bit in conserving the marine life and development of the artificial reef. He has named the programme after Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington.—Bennington’s Reef. He has also earned the patent of this programme, and it seems like there is no stopping him.

Moreover, he will also be presenting a paper on the development of artificial coral and its role in the protection of marine life, the International Congress of Conservational Biology in Kuala Lumpur this year.

We wish him the best in his future endeavors. Way to go, Siddharth!