Artificial reefs

[Edge Guerrero]

- An artificial reef is a human-made underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, control erosion, block ship passage, or improve surfing.

Many reefs are built using objects that were built for other purposes, for example by sinking oil rigs (through the Rigs-to-Reefs program), scuttling ships, or by deploying rubble or construction debris. Other artificial reefs are purpose built (e.g. the reef balls) from PVC or concrete. Shipwrecks may become artificial reefs when preserved on the sea floor. Regardless of construction method, artificial reefs generally provide hard surfaces where algae and invertebrates such as barnacles, corals, and oysters attach; the accumulation of attached marine life in turn provides intricate structure and food for assemblages of fish.

History

The construction of artificial reefs is thousands of years old. Ancient Persians blocked the mouth of the Tigris River to thwart Indian pirates by building an artificial reef,[1] and during the First Punic War the Romans built a reef across the mouth of the Carthaginian harbor in Sicily to trap the enemy ships within[2] and assist in driving the Carthaginians from the island.

Artificial reefs to increase fish yields or for algaculture have been used at least since 17th century Japan, when rubble and rocks were used to grow kelp,[3] while the earliest recorded construction of artificial reef in the United States is from the 1830s when logs from huts were used off the coast of South Carolina to improve fishing.[4]

Since at least the 1830s, American fishermen used interlaced logs to build artificial reefs. More recently, castaway junk, such as old refrigerators, shopping carts, ditched cars, out-of-service vending machines replaced the logs in ad hoc reefs. Officially sanctioned projects have incorported decommissioned subway cars, vintage battle tanks, armored personnel carriers and oil drilling rigs

Environmental concerns[edit]
According to The Ocean Conservancy, a Washington-based environmental group, the Osbourne reef may be an indication that the benefits of artificial reefs need to be re-examined. Jack Sobel, a senior scientist at the group, has said "There's little evidence that artificial reefs have a net benefit," citing concerns such as toxicity, damage to ecosystems and concentrating fish into one place (worsening overfishing)

Sorces:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_reef

http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/a/artificial_reef.htm

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/artificial-reef.html

[Edge Guerrero]

- Submerged shipwrecks are the most common form of artificial reef. Oil and gas platforms, bridges, lighthouses, and other offshore structures often function as artificial reefs. Marine resource managers also create artificial reefs in underwater areas that require a structure to enhance the habitat for reef organisms, including soft and stony corals and the fishes and invertebrates that live among them.

Materials used to construct artificial reefs have included rocks, cinder blocks, and even wood and old tires. Nowadays, several companies specialize in the design, manufacture, and deployment of long-lasting artificial reefs that are typically constructed of limestone, steel, and concrete.


In 1986, the Thunderbolt was intentionally sunk in 120 feet (36.6 meters) of water four miles south of Marathon and Key Colony Beach in Florida. The ship’s superstructure is now home to colorful sponges, corals, and hydroids, providing food and habitat for a variety of sea creatures.

The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary contains several decommissioned vessels that were sunk in specific areas for diving or fishing opportunities prior to the area’s designation as a national marine sanctuary. One of the most famous is the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Duane, which served on the seas for half a century before its final assignment as an underwater haven for sea life.

Planned manmade reefs may provide local economic benefits because they attract fish to a known location and are therefore popular attractions for commercial and recreational fishermen, divers, and snorkelers. However, the increase in illegal dumping for the purpose of creating habitat has led to significant poaching in the Florida Keys and subsequent high-profile arrests by NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement. Marine debris continues to be an ongoing problem in these sensitive environmental areas, and NOAA’s Marine Debris Program has helped provide funding to remove debris in the Florida Keys.

[Edge Guerrero]

[Edge Guerrero]

[Edge Guerrero]

Oyster farming

- Oyster farming is an aquaculture (or mariculture) practice in which oysters are raised for human consumption. Oyster farming most likely developed in tandem with pearl farming, a similar practice in which oysters are farmed for the purpose of developing pearls. It was practiced by the ancient Romans as early as the 1st century BC on the Italian peninsula[1] and later in Britain for export to Rome. The French oyster industry has relied on aquacultured oysters since the late 18th century




Here in Santa Catarina:







Cultivation

Oysters naturally grow in estuarine bodies of brackish water. When farmed, the temperature and salinity of the water are controlled (or at least monitored), so as to induce spawning and fertilization, as well as to speed the rate of maturation – which can take several year.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyster_farming

[Joe Mama]

My old ship that I served on is now an artificial reef off of the coast of Delaware.

USS Arthur W. Radford (DD-968)

[Edge Guerrero]

My old ship that I served on is now an artificial reef off of the coast of Delaware.

USS Arthur W. Radford (DD-968)

- This guy?

[Edge Guerrero]

- I tryed to find the artificial reefs of Delaware, saddly the ones i searched before in the pictures i already posted that pops up.:(