Abstract

For decades the role of artificial habitats is to increase the artisanal catch of different species of fish for local consumption, now with the implementation of better technology these habitats have become a valuable tool for environmental management. However, there are still many questions about the role of artificial habitats as productive entities capable of establishing equilibrium with their environment, or whether its role is to become attractive to local populations of organisms from natural reefs nearby, encouraging the redistribution of populations, increasing the susceptibility to fishing mortality and / or natural mortality. Research indicates that artificial habitats stimulate the production of fish to increase its total biomass in the ecosystem, but some assessments that support this hypothesis does not take into account aspects of population dynamics and ecology of species that colonize these habitats as well as the influence of physico-chemical parameters in these habitats to support more strongly the hypothesis of production, leaving a gap that leads to the attractive hypothesis to explain and determine the effects, which may have the placement of these habitats in the range of populations that colonize it. Also, it is suggested that these habitats can be good tools to test hypotheses on the maintenance of existing diversity in the natural reefs, based on different aspects such as recruitment and competition in fish. This work discusses various aspects of experimental trials that have used these strategies and their usefulness to the preservation and sustainable use of ecosystems.

PDF Preview