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Michael, thanks for your comments. All this has been discussed here at the baltic shores in a very similar way. There were multiple plans to create artificial reefs wit concrete reefball, and laying fields of line to create habitats for mytilus edilis. There were mainly 2 arguments against : a) concrete is not part of the natural environment and should not be brought into the water. Well, concrete has somewhat alkalic properties, as opposed to natural minerals, but what minor part this play in the water ,i can only guess. We have WW 2 remains here as artificial reefs which are abundant habitats. In fact, they help to extend the for some species well beyond there common limits. b) It was said by a Kiel Institute of Marine biology ( IFM) biologist that artificial reefs would induce a deprivation of the adjacent dandy areas in terms of diversity. This is not neither true nor scientifically proven. Thousands of dive hours of divers trained in environmental observation stand against this hypothesis. It is a side by side ralationship with no ill effects ( one could imagine the reefs giving home to predators which would devastate the surrounding communities. Not the case. The reefs are as well fish nurseries as places for seatrout, cod, eel , cormoran, to name a few ( of which I know an english name ;-) to take prey. Just my 2cc. I would be also interested in studies about this subject. Matthias Michael Barnette schrieb: > > Michael- > You may want to also consider including a scientific justification for > sinking the vessels to create artificial reefs. There has been an ongoing > discussion/debate/arguement over marine protected areas (MPAs), in > particular the potential use of "no-take" areas, within the scientific and > management communities. This issue (marine zoning) is getting quite a bit > of attention in the media. There have been recent proposals offered to > utilize artificial reefs to either a) create fishing spots to mitigate > displacement of anglers from MPAs established on nearby natural bottom, or > b) as a scientific tool to study the use of artificial reefs as a potential > benefit to fish stocks (whereas the artificial reef itself would be a > no-take zone). I can try and dig up some literature for you if you want to > add some science to your arsenal. > However, a couple of points should be noted to dispel some of the myths that > artificial reef proponents have advertised in the past. In many cases, > local marine environments are *not* habitat limited. Creating more > artificial reefs does not necessarily create more fish. It does not help to > provide acres of artificial refugia if there are no fish (if improving fish > stocks or increasing biodiversity is included in your goals/objectives for > creating an artificial reef). > Also, "barren" bottom is not worthless. Many times, the sandy or muddy > bottoms, while not particularly attractive to divers, play an important role > for marine species as a source of forage. > In any case, while economics and the input of tourism dollars from divers > may be an attractive reason to sink ships, there are other equally important > reasons that should be included if you want to present a sweet package to > the media and members of Congress. > Just a thought... > Cheers, > Michael C. Barnette > Association of Underwater Explorers > Because it's there...somewhere...maybe. > http://www.mikey.net/aue > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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