This webinar originally aired on Tuesday, June 18, 2024.
Presented by: Sylvain Pioch of University Montpellier 3 and Jessica Salaün of CRIOBE/EPHE University Perpignan
Description: Many types of structures – ranging from intentionally designed concrete modules with nature-inspired designs to decommissioned ships and petroleum platforms – have been deployed in marine water to create artificial reefs. Initially, the artificial reefs were deployed to enhance fishery production, but they can also protect areas against prohibited trawling, provide eco-mooring sites, substitute for natural reefs for diving activities, and help restore habitats or protect species. Increasingly, artificial reefs are being deployed to rehabilitate marine ecosystems and their functionalities (e.g., nursery, feeding, or reproductive) and to mitigate the effects of anthropogenic impacts. In the future, scientifically-informed deployment of artificial reefs could provide corridors for larval dispersal and the juvenile and adult migrations of marine organisms. This webinar will provide an overview of historic and current reasons for the deployment of artificial reefs, recent studies of why and how artificial reefs have met these goals socially and ecologically, estimates of the how much of the global seabed is covered with artificial reefs, and the risks and management needed for deploying artificial reefs successfully in the future.
Hosted by: OCTO
Click here to download a copy of this webinar from our Vimeo page