Like seaports everywhere, California’s Port of Oakland has long been planning for the impacts of rising sea levels caused by climate change. After all, as King Canute of medieval legend proved, no one has the power to hold back the tides.
But in Oakland’s case, port leaders have been looking beyond the hard-edged urban breakwater structures normally used for calming waves and rising waters. Instead, for the past five years, the port has been testing an artificial “island” that it describes as a prototype for an “ecologically productive” floating breakwater.
Known as the Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab—or “Float Lab” for short—the island measures 10 by 15 feet and consists of a fiber-reinforced polymer structure. Float Lab arrived in Oakland in August 2019 and was installed in the port’s shallow water habitat adjacent to Middle Harbor Shoreline Park.
During the lab’s stay in Oakland, researchers gathered information about marine life and data about the use of a floating structure in an area vulnerable to sea level rise. The structure also served as an animal habitat, attracting plankton, fish, invertebrates, and birds, which allowed researchers to study the potential of large masses of biological growth to help decrease wave action and reduce coastal erosion.
Float Lab has now been moved from the Port of Oakland to the San Francisco Bay, where it will be anchored near Treasure Island, which is appropriately enough an artificial island itself. There, it will continue to host research efforts as ports keep a watchful eye on the changing climate.
