An ecological halo surrounding a large offshore artificial reef: Sediments, infauna, and fish foraging

摘要

Artificial reefs are deployed in coastal systems to meet a range of social objectives and infrastructure requirements, such as recreational diving and fisheries enhancement. Such reefs are typically deployed on soft sediments and investigated the composition of benthic infauna, sediment characteristics, and demersal fish foraging activity surrounding a large, steel, designed offshore artificial reef (OAR), measuring 12 m x 16 m x 12 m (height x length x width) and weighing approximately 42 tonnes.