Satellite remote sensing assessment of ecological effects of artificial reefs in Daya Bay, China

摘要

Fishery resources along China coasts are declining, which could be alleviated by deploying artificial reefs (ARs) in suitable area. Artificial reef groups with a total dimension of 966.10 × 2850.60 m~2 and the total surface area of 91,500 m~2 were deployed in Daya Bay in the northern South China Sea in December 2007. Spatial and temporal variations of chlorophyll a concentration (Chl a) in the AR area were investigated in 11 years (2002-2012), using satellite remote sensing data. Results showed that after the ARs deployment Chl a performed on a relatively high level (most Chl a > 2.0 mg m~(-3)) but decreased at the rate of 0.016 mg m~(-3) per month. Trawling surveys showed stock density in the tracking surveys increased by 4.66-16.22 times and the total species of catch increased by 15-23% that of background survey. This study showed that the deployment of ARs could benefit the local primary production and therefore be favorable to fish production. Combining satellite remote sensing with shipboard monitoring can provide reliability checks on the assessment of the ecological effects of ARs.