Artificial Reefs: Good for Fishing, Bad for Fish

Alvin Sherman Library, Second Floor Gallery

The first historical record of an artificial reef is from Japan in 1650. Some 200 years later, off South Carolina, our country’s first artificial reef was deployed. The primary reason for adding materials to our coastal waters was the same then as it is today: to catch more fish. As this talk will explain, while fishing may be good at an artificial-reef site, unless these structures are protected, they are bad for fisheries and enhance overexploitation of our local fish populations.