Abstract

Artificial reef construction is frequently promoted as a habitat restoration technique to benefit reef fisheries, despite limited scientific understanding of the value of such activities for fisheries production or in achieving habitat functions. Gaps in existing literature and ongoing research programs limit consideration of artificial reef projects to well understood applications benefiting human uses (diving, recreational fishing) or epifaunal communities and associated cryptic fish species (e.g., blennies, gobies) living in these communities. This review does not consider potential artificial reef applica-tions in living shorelines, oyster reef restoration, coral reef restoration, or artificial reef placement in waters beyond the continental shelf. Public controversy persists regarding the role of artificial reefs in supporting reef fisheries production and in their function as a habitat (Powers et al. 2003, Shipp and Bortone 2009, Cowan et al. 2010, Cowan 2011). Artificial reefs can provide shelter and access to surrounding foraging areas for larger resident fishes and temporary foraging sites for larger migratory fishes, but there are scientific uncertainties around the question of whether artificial reefs serve to enhance production or merely aggregate individuals from surrounding areas, thus making them more susceptible to fishing mortality. Literature suggests that artificial reefs do not function exclusively as attractors or producers; instead, they can have some combination of attraction and production qualities, which vary in relation to factors such as site fidelity, movement within and between reef complexes, management regimes, and interspecies interactions (Addis et al. 2009, Bohnsack 1989). Literature is currently not sufficient to identify impacts to stocks of commercially and recreationally significant species on artificial reefs that are not managed for over-exploitation, regardless of whether the reefs increase fish production or simply attract fish from other areas.

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