Boycott the S.T.A.R.: CCA Failed to protect Oysters in Big Lake

[Nickt87]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

Not exactly. The question of whether artificial reefs contribute to production depends on the kind of artificial reef, the ecosystem, and the species.

There are boatloads of evidence that artificial reefs (petroleum platforms and the designed reefs used in places like Alabama) contribute to production of red snapper in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. A compelling case has been made that the vertical span of hard substrate works in synergy with the nutrients provided to the Northern GoM by the Mississippi River. See this paper and references therein:

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1306/1306.5114.pdf

The attached map shows the Chlorophyll a concentrations in the GoM. Chlorophyll a determines the amount of photosynthesis in the marine food web, thus the amount of primary production. Note the wide area of high primary production off the Louisiana coast. This high primary production is fed by the nutrient rich waters of the Mississippi River.

The phytoplankton with all the Chlorophyll a is at the bottom of the food chain and leads to roughly 4 times the biomass in these areas as compared with the areas in blue. Red Snapper thrive off the coast of Louisiana because they have a lot to eat as the biomass works its way up the food chain.

Chlorophyll? More like Borophyll.


Sorry, had to do it.