Using concrete artificial reef as a tool to enrich the new marine habitat in Erdek-Ocaklar Bay (Marmara Sea, Turkey)

The species composition around the concrete artificial reef deployed at 20 m depth in Marmara Sea, Turkey from July 2011 to June 2013 was determined through visual census, video, angling and nets. The methods revealed that both richness and abundance of species increased around the artificial reef during the studied period but the most effective method was the visual census. The study recorded a total of fifty-one species (12159 individuals), with significantly greater diversity of fish species than the others (Crustacean, Echinoderm Bivalve and Poriferae). Twenty six species were of actual or potential economic importance. The results show that artificial reefs can especially increase fish populations in the vicinity and have also been chosen as burrows by the lobsters Homarus gammarus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Marmara Sea. © by PSP.