Saturday, October 21, 2006

Texas great barrier (artifical) reef?

Since Texas doesn't have a great barrier reef, some people want to build one. The ambitious plan would build a reef along the entire Texas coast 8 miles offshore in 40-90 feet of water.

Proponents say the artificial reefs will enhance fishing for red snapper, and escape the unwelcome fishing restrictions that are coming otherwise.

Never mind that artificial reefs may just attract fish and make them easier to catch, thus pushing red snapper even deeper into a hole. Seems like there's always a receptive audience for fishy "solutions" that sound good on paper. The scientific verdict is not yet in for artificial reefs, and whether they produce more fish. One thing is certain, artificial reefs can act as "fish aggregating devices" (FADs) and worsen overfishing. This is one FAD I could do without.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I strongly disagree. The shrimping industry is the biggest contributor of red snapper loss. This is followed by a very effective commercial fishery for that species. The artificial reefs would stop shrimping in those areas all together. This will help not only the snapper fishery, but also that of many other species such as sea turtles.

Anonymous said...

You are an uninformed moron, Go blog some more.