Battelle developing reefs to ease habitat losses
Artificial reefs may be the answer to solving a worldwide problem of declining fish habitats, or they may only be good for creating fishing spots. Researchers at Battelle's Ocean Sciences Laboratory in Duxbury, Massachusetts, are studying artificial reefs in the Delaware River to determine if they are a solution to habitat losses in estuaries and coastal regions. [open quotes]Right now, we don't know if the fish are using the reefs simply as a grazing land, and then moving on, or if they're using the areas to colonize,[close quotes] said researcher Karen Foster. [open quotes]Ultimately, we hope to find they are colonizing.[close quotes] In 1989, Battelle researchers placed 16 prefabricated concrete reefs 45 feet deep in Delaware Bay. The reefs were placed in clusters of four, and monitoring began the following year. The federal government ordered the reefs placed in the bay as a mitigation technique for fish habitat that was lost when the river was dredged for navigational purposes. Researchers examined the reefs twice last summer. It will take five years, Foster said, before researchers can determine if the reefs are increasing the fish population. Early tests show, however, the populations of mussels, sponges, corals, and anemones increased by up to 150 percent over an area of bay bottom where the reefs were placed. Divers take crustacean samples from the reefs, and fish are caught near the reefs for examination. Researchers dissect the fish stomachs and analyze the contents to determine if they have been feeding at the reefs. [open quotes]If we find blue mussels in the stomach of the fish, that's great because we know that blue mussels are growing on the reef,[close quotes] Foster said.
- OSTI ID:
- 6590530
- Journal Information:
- Sea Technology; (United States), Vol. 34:4; ISSN 0093-3651
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
FISHES
HABITAT
LOSSES
POPULATION DYNAMICS
MONITORING
REEFS
COASTAL REGIONS
CORALS
DELAWARE BAY
DELAWARE RIVER
ECOSYSTEMS
ESTUARIES
MITIGATION
MUSSELS
POPULATION DENSITY
REINFORCED CONCRETE
SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BAYS
BUILDING MATERIALS
CNIDARIA
COASTAL WATERS
COELENTERATA
COMPOSITE MATERIALS
CONCRETES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
INVERTEBRATES
MATERIALS
MOLLUSCS
REINFORCED MATERIALS
RIVERS
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
VERTEBRATES
540310* - Environment
Aquatic- Basic Studies- (1990-)