Business owner: So if we destroy 1.1 acres natural habitat all we have to do is put 110 acres of concrete on the ocean floor?
Government: I am going to have to ask you to refrain from using concrete and use the government mandated 'artificial reef'
Business owner: Umm...sorry artificial reef. Won't people get wise?
Government: Nope...were promoting diversity...who doesn't like a reef?
Scuba Business Owner: I like reef! I just love diving on old ships, planes, concrete, tires. Best dive spots ever!
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Yes, we do need more concrete on the sea floor. To be exact, we need concrete shaped like large caltrops designed to snag and rip nets. It may be the only realistic way to protect areas from trawling. Rules are so easily broken.
Thomas, there are many other ways to do fisheries enforcement, including things like electronic vessel monitoring systems (VMS). Of course, VMS and other enforcement systems are only rigorously used in a few countries -- including the United States -- but that's another issue entirely.
Question, though: this patch of bottom is "barren" for a good reason, with the quotation marks deliberate. If naturally so, perhaps due to historically poor recruitment from local circulation patterns, then why should we think we can make something of nothing?
He worries that the reef would not only attract fish, but also commercial divers. "Artificial reef is not necessarily helping us," he said. "The divers all surround the reef and catch all the fish anyway. It's the netters that are the ones that are killing the coral."
It's good to follow the, if you build it they will come, you just have to find a way to limit the "they" part!
Dave Briggs :~)