Issues Related to Improving Habitat Quality Using Artificial Reefs

Artificial reefs of various designs and configurations have been deployed in coastal and offshore areas as well as freshwaters of the United States, presumably to help achieve National Fish Habitat Plan goals and objectives. While much is known about the economic benefits of artificial reefs, currently little information is available to allow the prescriptive use of artificial reefs to improve habitat quality for specific fisheries. To make efficient use of artificial reefs to enhance habitat quality, several issues must be addressed:  extreme variance in assemblage structure; assessment difficulties owing to depth and visibility; and a lack of understanding of species-specific habitat affinities. Moreover, there is currently little information on the influence artificial reefs have on the ecosystem. Current circumstances inhibit overcoming several information inadequacies. Among these are a miss-understanding of the role that artificial reefs can play in management, poorly established project objectives, and incompatible sampling methodologies. NFHP partnerships can provide the appropriate mechanism to fine-tune inter-jurisdictional cooperation to allow the prescriptive use of artificial reefs to improve habitat management. The ability to standardize and compare artificial reef efforts will go far leading to a future in which artificial reefs play an integral role in achieving NFHP goals and objectives.