Artificial reefs in the Arabian Gulf: Benefits, challenges and recommendations for policy-makers

Developing Expert Scientific Consensus on the Environmental and Societal Effects of Marine Artificial Structures Prior to Decommissioning

“…Bishop et al, 2017;McLean et al, 2022;Friedlander et al, 2014;Fayram and De Risi, 2007;Meyer-Gutbrod et al, 2020). Given global trends in biodiversity loss, scientists, developers and policy makers alike are seeking mitigation and/or compensation options, such as developing options to reuse/recycle oil rigs, to maintain or enhance connectivity (Olds et al, 2016;McLean et al, 2022) or increase local biomass/biodiversity (Meyer-Gutbrod et al, 2020) alongside or in addition to other interventions like the introduction of artificial reefs (Bartholomew et al, 2022). However, the contribution that structures can make towards biodiversity objectives may be idiosyncratic depending on location (Reis et al, 2021;Lemasson et al, In Review;Firth et al, In Review), such that this approach may not be a panacea.…”

Coastal greening of grey infrastructure: an update on the state-of-the-art

“…For example, crevices incorporated into artificial structures can promote oyster recruitment (Strain et al 2018b), with pits and narrow spaces under overhangs, aiding coral recruitment (Strain et al 2018a;Burt and Bartholomew 2019). For fish, increased structural complexity and provision of diversity of refugia can alter biological interactions (predation and competition), leading to greater fish recruitment and survival rates on more complex artificial structures (Morris et al, 2018a;Burt and Bartholomew, 2019;Bartholomew et al, 2022;Komyakova and Swearer, 2019;Komyakova et al, 2021;Hayes et al, 2022). Understanding the extent to which each of these factors drives biodiversityhabitat complexity relationships is critical to understanding the range of environmental conditions across which habitat complexity enhancement will provide biological benefit (e.g.,…”

“…measurable benefits for humans and nature. The authors suggested that much could be learnt from the artificial reef literature, a more established discipline subject to intense critical evaluation (e.g., Pioch et al, 2011;Castello y Tickell et al, 2019;Komyakova et al, 2021;Reis et al, 2021;Vivier et al, 2021b;Bartholomew et al, 2022;Salaün et al, 2022) can increase fish production, including commercially-important species, by providing refuge, breeding sites and increased feeding opportunities (Pondella et al, 2002;Cresson et al, 2014;Roa-Ureta et al, 2019;Folpp et al, 2020). ARs can provide additional hard-bottom habitat as attachment sites for commercially-important bivalves (Goeltz et al, 2020) and important habitatforming species like macroalgae and corals (Campos et al, 2020, Higgins et al, 2022.…”

A Fuzzy-based method for artificial reefs site selection- Case Study: Kish Island, the Persian Gulf

“…In the Persian Gulf area (PG), few projects and studies have been undertaken on the site selection of AR. Bartholomew et al (2022) assessed the challenges related to the deployment of AR in the PG and provided recommendations for decision-makers. They highlighted some advantages and disadvantages of the deployment of AR in this region, including increasing short-term shing rates, tourism growth, protecting biodiversity, and providing ecological services as pros, while over shing in the long-term, spreading invasive species, and changing benthic habitat around the AR as cons.…”