Lecture: William Seaman
Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida 32611
seaman@ufl.edu
Artificial Reefs as a Unifying and Energizing Factor in Future Research and Management of Fisheries and Ecosystems
Can artificial reefs and their associated body of scientific knowledge be considered as established practices and components in Fishery Science? Further, and more generally, what is the appropriate role and scope of artificial habitats in marine ecosystem management? While these questions are debated, advances in the science and applications of this technology nevertheless continue. These advances in turn give rise to another question, namely, Does this field contribute or "add value" to environmental science and engineering in general? The aim of this paper is to challenge the reflections, thinking and attitudes of persons and organizations in any way concerned with artificial reefs, regarding both their potential and limits and also the role they may serve to unify and energize future research and management in coastal environments.
Historically a case has been made that at least some artificial reef technologies are not grounded upon sound scientific principles, and that their utilization can harm fish populations and the environment. Alteration or damage to natural habitats from, respectively, placement or unintended movement of reef materials is documented, for example. Overharvest of target species is theorized. Meanwhile, artificial reefs have received some degree of acceptance widely through deployment in over 50 nations for practical purposes such as conservation and fishery production. They are used increasingly as platforms for rigorous ecological experimentation that leads to dissemination of findings in major research journals. Several regions and countries have adopted formal plans for use of artificial reefs, which include new standards for quantifying reef performance.
From review of recent literature, individual research, and larger programs concerning artificial reefs worldwide, some shared attributes and trends are apparent, which may unify, guide and foster future investigations and management in various branches of aquatic sciences: Sustainability of resource utilization is a standard concern of ecosystem managers that sets reefs in a broader social and environmental context; maintaining or enhancing biodiversity is a common goal that extends reef objectives beyond exploitation; engaging a broad variety of community stakeholders in reef development and assessment efforts by many scientists provides benefits to education; using artificial reefs as sites for manipulative experiments affords study designs that could not be conducted at natural habitats; promoting multidisciplinary studies, such as by teams of ecologists, engineers and social scientists, offers a powerful approach for addressing complex environmental issues, as well as a means for assembling datasets for modeling of reef systems; and adaptation of fundamental knowledge of species life history requirements to the design of physical structure of reefs combines basic research with the interests of society for applications. These and other considerations may be useful in planning new research and management related to both artificial reefs and fisheries and ecosystems in general.
Willian J. Lindberg
