This paper aims firstly to present the findings of a comprehensive investigation of
the global use of artificial reefs, providing the modern coastal manager with a
concise, readily accessible review of their design, application and management.
Secondly, the paper aims to evaluate the degree to which artificial reefs meet the
objectives for which they were placed.
The main literature review undertaken for this study comprises 6 volumes of
published papers on global artificial reef research. These include two special editions
of the Bulletin of Marine Science [6,7], two volumes comprising the proceedings of
ECOSET ’95, the International Conference on Ecological System Enhancement
Technology for Aquatic Environments [8], the proceedings of the 1st EARRN
Conference [9] and the proceedings of the 30th European Marine Biology
Symposium [10].
In total, this study reviewed 249 abstracts from these collections of artificial reef
papers, producing a brief summary of their themes (coverage and application where
appropriate), material employed, highlighted design and/or management issues, and
country of origin or geographical spread. The results of this review are based solely
on information in abstracts and are not intended to be full appraisals of the content
of papers. Highlighted design and/or management issues, therefore, may be selective
and should not be considered as definitive in terms of the authors’ intentions or the
papers’ coverage.