Manmade Reefs As A Model In Marine Reserve Research

Mel Bell
Marine Finfish Management Section, South Carolina Marine Resources Division, SCDNR, P.O. Box 12559 Charleston, South Carolina 29422-2559; phone: (843) 762-5066 fax: (843) 406-4060; email: bellm@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us

Marine manmade reefs have been used over the past several decades in most coastal states to provide additional hard bottom habitat to enhance recreational and commercial fishing activities. While hard bottom habitats created through the intentional placement of manmade materials onto relatively flat, featureless soft marine bottom are not identical in every respect to hard bottom habitats typically found where geological features such as limestone ledges and outcroppings permit their establishment, there are many obvious similarities between the living reef communities that develop on each of these sites over time. "No-take" marine reserves are currently being considered as possible fishery management tools for use in the southeastern United States, being potentially valuable in the management of many stocks within the snapper-grouper management complex. Essential areas of marine habitat that would be incorporated into such reserves would include sufficient quantities of naturally-occurring marine hard bottom. Although marine reserves have been in use in other parts of the world for a number of years with positive results, their acceptance and eventual use in the U.S. will be predicated by the ability to convince fisheries managers and reluctant key user groups of their utility and potential benefits in our own coastal waters. This paper describes efforts by the state of South Carolina to gain insight into the potential benefits offered by the existence of "no-take" hard bottom marine habitats through the use of specially designed manmade reefs as an experimental model. Preliminary results from data collection begun in 1999 will be presented.