BIO 340 Final Project: Artificial Reef Effects on Fishing Productivity

Griffin Gouck - Environmental Biology '26 A slew of artificial reefs can be seen dotting the Gulf of America. Some result from catastrophic shipwrecks and others from construction dumping; however, all provide an opportunity for the development of marine ecosystems. The question of how artificial reefs effect local fish populations is an expansive concept extremely hard to simplify down to a basic relationship. The development of reefs is a delicate process taking place over many years of growth. Previous studies utilized a combination of resources like theoretical models, field data and comparisons to natural reefs to study how these artificial reefs are settling into the substrate of the Gulf of America. I hypothesize that with the addition of artificial reefs, the gulf region will have more room to develop complex reef ecosystems necessary for supporting a larger and biodiverse population of fish. The Marine Cadastre has compiled an astounding interactive map of all the documented artificial reef sites throughout the coastal United States. Comparing these reefs with data from NOAA's annual fishing yields from local ports, this study is helping piece together the relationship between the growth of these artificial reefs alongside fish yields. BIO 340 final project