Managing the development of artificial reef systems: The need for quantitative goals

Abstract

Fisheries enhancement initiatives are a potentially useful tool for managers to supplement traditional approaches. Habitat‐based enhancements often deploy artificial reefs with the aim to increase the available structure to augment local production, yet current assessment approaches make it difficult to assess whether these reefs achieve pre‐deployment goals. This makes it hard for managers to determine whether artificial reefs could improve their fishery outputs, potentially leading to missed opportunities and reduced production. We reviewed 270 research articles to determine whether existing monitoring studies identify whether artificial reefs meet their pre‐deployment goals, thereby providing some evidence of their suitability for certain fisheries. We found only 62% of these studies clearly articulated the original goals of the reef. Goals were qualitative, and most studies were conducted over insufficient time frames to allow for ecological communities to stabilize and mature. It is therefore difficult to determine the success or failure of many artificial reefs in addressing the management issues for which they were deployed. In the light of these findings, we think the setting of explicit quantitative goals (which may be biological, social or economic), and monitoring the performance of reefs against these goals, could stimulate the broader application of artificial reefs in fisheries management strategies. Such an approach has been successfully adopted in aquaculture‐based fisheries enhancement, and we explain how current evaluation methods such as harvest strategies can be easily adapted to quantitatively monitor artificial reef performance.

Artificial reefs increase fish abundance in habitat‐limited estuaries

“…These structures, such as revetment walls, swimming enclosures, wharves and marinas, are mostly located around the intertidal fringe of estuaries and installed with no specific aim of providing habitat (Chapman, 2003; Clynick, Chapman, & Underwood, 2008). However, ecological principles are increasingly combined with the planning, design and operation of marine artificial structures so that designed artificial structures can be used as conservation and enhancement tools for marine environments (Dafforn et al., 2015; Layman, Jud, Archer, & Riera, 2014), or to enhance the opportunities for recreational fishers (Becker, Taylor, Folpp, & Lowry, 2018).…”

Functional traits unravel temporal changes in fish biomass production on artificial reefs

“…Artificial reefs (hereafter AR) have been used for centuries to manage coastal zones, to support small-scale fisheries and restore degraded habitat (Becker et al, 2017;Claudet and Pelletier, 2004;Neves Santos and Costa Monteiro, 1998). These structures are now a popular management tool, as both professional and recreational fishermen seem satisfied with the increase in fish biomass and catches at ARs (Tessier et al, 2015a).…”

“…Investigating the relationships between organic matter fluxes and trophic organization of fish communities, in addition to classical biomass measurement, may be a promising scientific avenue to solve the old attraction/production controversy, notably by confirming that fish and invertebrates communities of AR belong to the same food web (Powers et al, 2003;Brickhill et al, 2005). While some studies have revealed that ARs favor biomass production (Champion et al, 2015;Smith et al, 2016), most focused on single-time point surveys and overlooked long-term or seasonal changes in fish communities; at best, 3 years of monitoring were investigated (Becker et al, 2017). The massive amount of work required to monitor community composition and trophic patterns may explain why such studies are rare.…”

The Effectiveness of Adaptive Beach Protection Methods under Wind Application

“…It is also eco-friendly, and there is a low probability of secondary damage occurring. Moreover, it is easier to actively respond to changes in the coastal environment with the soft-type method [12,13]. Recently, the soft-type application of nourishment has been carried out more extensively than the hard-type method has.…”