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The value of artificial reefs
Ongoing research on an artificial reef complex in Loch Linnhe reveals the benefits of well-designed reefs
For many years, and in many countries, artificial reefs have been promoted as ways of protecting, enhancing or restoring commercial fisheries or threatened ecosystems. However, reef construction costs and licensing demands have often compromised the science needed to support these claims.
New research based on the Loch Linnhe Artificial Reef complex, owned and managed by SAMS and built through partnership with the Foster Yeoman quarrying company, is some of the first to demonstrate how biological life can be supported on reefs that are designed to maximise optimum habitat types.
The large number of reefs built in Loch Linnhe has meant that the research has two key advantages over other studies: it has experimental replication; and it is carried out on far larger scales than elsewhere.
The findings show that the complex structure of a well-designed artificial reef can host two to three times the numbers of conspicuous fish and invertebrates compared with natural reef or simple artificial reef.
The study is published this month in the ICES Journal of Marine Science. It was carried out by William Hunter during a student placement at the NERC Facility for Scientific Diving, hosted at SAMS, and William also received support from Project Aware, the British Sub-Aqua Jubilee Trust and the educational support fund of the Society for Underwater Technology.
Click here to read the abstract for this paper...