Artificial Coral Reefs: The Savior of Ocean Ecology?

Many manmade structures that sink to the bottom of the sea are sometimes preserved but in most occasions, they are left alone to never be thought about again. Now, marine scientists are preserving manmade structures such as sunken ships in order to make artificial reefs. This may be a new concept to some, but artificial reefs are human made structures that are intentionally optimized and placed in marine ecosystems in order to add shelter for some species and to add more biodiversity. 

The Origin of Artificial Reefs

Even though artificial reefs may sound like a new concept, they have for centuries. According to geographyrealm.com,"The first known intentional artificial reef creation occurred in 18th century Japan, where multiple 'reefs' from bamboo and leaves were sunk". At the time, people in the Indo-Pacific Islands tried similar methods in order to lure fish for fishing purposes. These examples were knows as "fish attraction devices" which are mainly used for fishing to this day. 

One of the Many Designs of Artificial Reefs (Credit to Reef Design Lab)

Are They Good or Bad?

When scientists found out the concept of artificial coral reefs, they had many goals that the artificial reefs could bring. One of the many goals that could be achieve with artificial coral reefs is the ability to control erosion. Real coral diverge the energy of waves and when the waves become less powerful, it relieves the effects of waves which causes less erosion on shores. The positive effects are only shown if they are placed well. With poor placement, it can change wave patterns that can cause negative effects. More erosion could occur with incorrect and uncalculated artificial reef placement. Possibly the most important reason why artificial reefs are introduced to ecosystems is because of the goal to bring more biodiversity to ecosystems. One of the largest factors to declining ecosystems are coral bleaching. Since artificial reefs do not bleach, they can mimic the effects of real coral in ecosystems. Coral reefs are used by many species of fish in order to hide from predators and be able to survive and reproduce. Stated by IMARCS, a successful manmade reef was "the Thunderbolt, a former World War II ship was purposely sunk 120 feet. It is now home to sponges and hydroids and is able to provide food and a thriving habitat for a variety of sea creatures". 

In order for artificial reefs to work to their full potential, the placement of them has to be calculated. Another positive of artificial reefs is the ability to stay alive against tourism. Since coral reefs are colorful and good to look at, it drives a lot of tourists. After a lot of tourism, coral reefs can not be able to maximize their potential of sustaining an environment. Since artificial reefs are not real or alive, they do not get affected by the stress and tourism which allows ecosystems to stay sustained. One of the negatives of coral reefs is the chemicals released from the materials used in the artificial reefs. Some chemicals can devastate ecosystems and the chemicals can cause the animals in the ecosystem to die off.

The concept of artificial reefs still requires more research before it is put in almost every ecosystem that lives off coral reefs, but researchers can take out the negatives of artificial reefs and possibly find more benefits of these artificial reefs. In a few decades, almost all of the coral reefs that were endangered will be thriving again with the correct calculations and research.