Site Fidelity and Movement Patterns of Rocky Reef Associated Gamefishes on a Large Impact Mitigation Artificial Reef in Southern California

Artificial reefs (AR’s) can be used to serve a number of purposes; however, in recent years the majority of AR deployment in the United States has focused on enhancing fishery resources and fishing opportunities.  Diver-based fish survey techniques routinely demonstrate high fish abundance on AR’s, yet a debate exists as to whether the fish found on artificial reefs reside there and produce new fish biomass, or if they are simply being attracted from adjacent natural reefs.  To examine this, a passive acoustic telemetry array (38 receivers) was placed around the 178 acre Wheeler North artificial reef (WNAR) off the coast of San Clemente, California to determine whether fish tagged on the reef remain there, as well as if fish tagged on adjacent natural reefs move to the AR.  Forty-five kelp bass (Paralabrax clathratus), barred sand bass (Paralabrax nebulifer) and California sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher) have been tagged on WNAR.  So far, fish show site fidelity to the AR with 68%, 41% and 39% of days detected since tagging, respectively, with only one fish (kelp bass) showing emigration movement patterns.  These data indicate that this may be an effective method for evaluating questions about AR fish biomass production.