Long-term benefits of artificial reef modules for reef recovery in gulf of Mannar, Southeast India
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Long-term benefits of artificial reef modules for reef recovery in gulf of Mannar, Southeast India Kasparraj Diraviya Raj 1 & Gilbert Mathews 1 & Jasper Kamalam Patterson Edward 1 Received: 16 March 2018 / Revised: 12 August 2020 / Accepted: 13 August 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract The Gulf of Mannar (GoM) in southeastern India, once well known for its rich coral reefs, has been suffering for a long time from the vagaries of unprecedented threats posed by many natural and human-induced factors. The deployment of low-tech, low-cost artificial reef (AR) modules made of ferro-cement near Vaan Island in GoM helped enhance fishery production and enrich biodiversity. These modules remain strong even at the end of 15 years and continue to provide substrata to a significantly large population of coral colonies. In 2017, the density of the coral colonies attached to the ARs was found to be as high as 25.45 numbers per module (No.module−1). Recruits from 13 genera were observed on the modules, Turbinaria (5.4 No.module−1) and Favites (4.87 No.module−1) being the dominant genera. The modules have attracted the recruits of boulder type corals, which are important for long-term ecological services. Widespread deployment of these modules would aid in reef recovery by providing suitable substrate for coral recruits. Keywords Artificial reefs . Reef recovery . Gulf of Mannar . Ferro-cement modules
Introduction Coral reefs are well-known for their rich biodiversity, valuable ecosystem services and direct economic benefits to the coastal communities. The value of the economic benefits that coral reefs provide through fisheries, tourism and coastal protection has been estimated to be between USD 30 and 375 billion per year (Cesar et al. 2003; Costanza et al. 1997). In spite of their intrinsic value, corals have been neglected and left to undergo severe degradation due to various natural and human-induced factors. Particularly the global coral bleaching events between 2014 and 2017 have caused significant damage to the reefs around the world (Eakin et al. 2016; Wake 2016). To aid reef recovery, several measures are being taken worldwide including deployment of artificial reef structures (Pickering et al. 1998), coral transplantation (Smith and Hughes 1999), and establishment of low-profile underwater nurseries (Rinkevich and Shafir 2000). Deployment of artificial structures to assist the natural coral recruitment process has been a common practice in many degraded reefs. Reef recovery in a * Kasparraj Diraviya Raj [email protected] 1
Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute, 44-Beach Road, Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu 628 001, India
degraded region using artificial reefs has been reported as a successful procedure in many cases because it is cost effective as well as efficient (Clark and Edwards 1994). Researchers have tried different types of artificial reef structures including those constructed with concrete, PVC pipes, tires and even used ships and cars (Sherman et al. 2002), of which ferro-cement concrete stru
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