Abstract

While debate remains regarding the degree to which artificial reefs can enhance fish production for larger adult fish, consensus exist that habitat restoration or creation that benefit early post-settlement stages of fish does result in additional fish production by mitigating the survival bottleneck most young fish must pass through. For red snapper, juvenile survival (Age 0 and 1+) has long been recognized as a major source of mortality. Thus, habitat creation activities that focus on reducing juvenile mortality would likely result in enhanced recruitment of red drum. Red snapper spend their entire life cycle in offshore waters. Juveniles utilize low relief, complex habitat in the shallow water areas of the continental shelf (e.g. relic oyster shell ridges, small irregularities in the bottom, and small rocks) prior to moving to larger structures. This smaller habitat provides enough protection from predators, but is not large enough to attract large predators. Although no comprehensive inventory of these habitats exists, it is likely that shrimp trawling has removed much of this habitat. The reef permit zone off coastal Alabama provides an excellent opportunity to restore these low relief snapper habitats. Because of the potential for snags, the area serves as a defacto no shrimping zone. We created two low relief, structurally complex elongated rectangles of habitat in shallow water (~20m). After one year, substantial numbers of juvenile red snapper, gray triggerfish and tomtate recruited to these areas. Surveys after Hurricanes indicated the habitat persisted. We present modeled estimate of the number of estimated adult red snapper that may result from this additional habitat.