Recognised by WIPO
WIPO chose UGI as a global success story (“invention of the century”). According to El Periódico, more than 100 species were recorded at Port Olímpic within 12 months.
True Regenerative · sea systems
Sea · scientific collaborationRegenerative aquaculture: the seabed is soil too
At sea we use the same approach as on land: look first, then decide. Under water, organic matter, microbiology and minerals decide what life colonises a seabed.
Three currents, one approach
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Read the seabed
Substrate, light, currents and bioindicator species, before touching anything.
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Let the sea do the work
Microbes and algae arrive first; invertebrates and fish follow.
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Follow the colonisation
Observe and sample over time to learn what works and what doesn’t.
Mussels
The ropes, at dawn
Ropes hanging from the raft, reflected in the water. This is a mussel farm, not a reef: mussels filter the water and feed on what the sea already produces, with no feed added.
Underwater Gardens International (UGI)
UGI is an independent Barcelona organisation that designs structures to restore seabeds. It is not a True Regenerative project: we collaborate with its team on science and publications.
OCEAN CITIZEN, in the Porsanger fjord
30 artificial reef units designed and produced by UGI with the scientific team of Hans Kristian Strand (Institute of Marine Research), as a refuge for juvenile cod and a base for kelp. As told by Celia González, architect on the design team.
Our contribution: published science
Xavier Vélez Parera is a co-author, with the UGI team, of Bracho-Villavicencio et al., Benthic Colonization on New Materials for Marine Ecosystem Restoration in Porto Cesareo, Italy, J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2024, 12(1), 169 (MDPI).
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