Artificial Reefs Research

Artificial Reefs: the Florida Sea Grant Connection

Artificial reefs in Florida have been especially popular since the 1970s. With the advent of State Legislative funding in the 1990s, numerous local government and private interests have been able to develop reefs. The principal purpose is to enhance recreational fishing opportunities. But there are an increasing number of reefs being built as scuba diving sites and also to repair or mitigate da...

Ecology of artificial reefs in the subtropics.

The application of artificial reefs (ARs) has a long history, and there is a wealth of information related to the design and performance of ARs in coastal and ocean waters worldwide. However, relatively fewer studies in the literature are focused on the response of benthic communities within the reef areas than those on fish attraction and fish production and on the settlement and colonization ...

Comparing the Invasibility of Experimental “Reefs” with Field Observations of Natural Reefs and Artificial Structures

Natural systems are increasingly being modified by the addition of artificial habitats which may facilitate invasion. Where invaders are able to disperse from artificial habitats, their impact may spread to surrounding natural communities and therefore it is important to investigate potential factors that reduce or enhance invasibility. We surveyed the distribution of non-indigenous and native ...

Artificial Reefs: from Ecological Processes to Fishing Enhancement Tools

Monitoring species in artificial reefs using acoustic communications

The purpose of this work is to study and evaluate the limitations of using acoustic communications in the vicinity of artificial reefs. By placing hydrophones and transmitters in different strategic locations we have studied the performance of this technology in confined spaces. The ultimate goal of this work is to provide information for the proper design of acoustic communication systems to m...