Ecological design of marine construction for socio-economic benefits: Ecosystem integration of a pipeline in coral reef area

It is critical to understand that an ecosystem integration of construction requires a close Engineering/Biology partnership to meet socio-economic benefits in management goals. Biologists are not typically trained or licensed for the requisite engineering involved in construction. Likewise, non-biologists designing habitat often can lead to egregious results. For example, unintentionally constructing the wrong habitat, i.e., refuge for predators in a nursery area, or habitat that facilitates the spread of non-desirable species can increase, rather than ameliorate, the impact of construction. In recent years, Pioch and co-workers (unpublished) developed an alternative to the “classic” engineering approach to marine construction. This new approach, of construction “integrated in ecosystem”, is now operational or in the planning stage for marinas, harbours, seawalls, dykes and pipelines. We will present the example of Mayotte project (France, West Indian Ocean) in 2008 established a 2,600 m underwater pipe line for around US $8.8 million (6.8 M€), linking “Grande Terre” to “Petite Terre” island, in a coral lagoon (marine protected area).