A first glance, the term "Artificial Reef" might seem to be a bit unappealing. At SDTN, though, we know the opposite is true. Artificial Reefs are safe havens for fish and other marine life - and they're great fun for divers to explore. Here, we'll take a closer look at how life takes hold in some unlikely places.
One Man's Junk is an Underwater Treasure
Old subway cars, outdated telephone booths, heaps of rubble from a bridge that just couldn't handle the demands modern traffic placed on it - they all have something in common. All these things, along with outdated military equipment and ships long past their prime, not to mention special concrete structures, can be transformed into spectacular marine environments.
It takes just a few minutes for a ship like the Vandenberg, which was sunk off Key West in 2009, to sink to the bottom of the ocean once carefully placed explosive charges have been set off. After the smoke clears and the ship makes its way to the seabed, curious fish find their way into it almost immediately.
Of course, fishermen have known this for millennia; the site of a shipwreck offers some of the best fishing around. Since the 1830's, fishermen in America have been building artificial reefs with the express intent of creating better places to fish. They might not have known it when they first decided to create these artificial reefs, but they were actually doing the marine environment a huge favor.
Today, we know that just about anything has the potential to become an artificial reef - and a great dive site, too. Old railway cars, oil drilling rigs, shopping carts - they all have some things in common. They've got suitable structures for corals and sponges to cling to, and they offer fish shelter from larger predators.
The fish don't care that their new condominiums are made from out of service vending machines, broken down cars, and other cast-offs. Instead, they are primarily concerned with survival - and survival is largely determined by the availability of food. Here's where big heaps of rubble and rusted out battleships come into play. When currents push up against these structures, they cause plankton-rich upwellings that attract small fish, which in turn bring in predators like sharks and tuna. Next, creatures that like to live in holes and crevices arrive, including eels, squirrelfish, triggerfish, groupers, and others. Jacks and other opportunistic predators, such as barracuda, start hanging around in the water column, and after a time, corals, sponges, tunicates, and other encrusting life forms create a colorful mantle.
From the very beginning of the artificial reef formation process, until the time when it's virtually impossible to tell exactly what the objects that form the reef were to begin with, items that are merely eyesores prove to be incredibly valuable once they've been properly cleaned and set in place beneath the surface. Like an oasis in the desert, an artificial reef increases life - improving the ecosystem, and giving us more than just some outstanding places to enjoy our favorite sport.