Artificial reef An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many re ...

s are used to increase

sustainable fishing A conventional idea of a sustainable fishery is that it is one that is harvested at a sustainable rate, where the fish population does not decline over time because of fishing practices. Sustainability in fisheries combines theoretical discipl ...

activities on the coastline of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, which depends heavily on the sea for food.

History

Since the Middle Ages Japanese fishermen used immense bamboo structures to enhance the proliferation of fish.''The Artificial Reef, a Japanese Speciality''
Nicolas de La Casinière

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...

, 10 August 2004 The first artificial reefs for which records have been kept dates back to 1650 and written records show that the reefs were in use between 1789 and 1801. Since 1930 Japan has subsidised the installation of artificial reefs especially from 1952. The

Japanese government The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, c ...

continues to invest in research and development and financing of major projects. It is a true maritime development program with interests and significant investment of around one billion euros per year.

Description of Facilities

In 2004, 12% of the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

of Japan held twenty million cubic metres of artificial reefs of all types particularly metal structures. Concrete blocks are frequently used but also metal towers 35 metres high weighing 92 tons mounted on three discs each three metres in diameter which create walls with currents to block

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

. About 350 models of patented reefs meet the needs of different species and environmental conditions have been constructed at about 20,000 sites in the Japanese archipelago. Scientific research on the study of the behaviour of fish allow the development of a bio-seabed to assess the needs and capabilities of migration and colonization of native species. These reefs protect and now attract tens of millions of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

and

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

. The largest of these reefs measures several thousand cubic metres and is 80 metres high.

Specially designed habitats

s are used by the Japanese to improve coastal fisheries. They build both shallow water reefs (called "tsukiiso") for

shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...

and

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

s and deeper water reefs (called "gyosho") for

finfish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of liv ...

.(Sheehy, 1981) In addition to the roles of

hatchery A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled condit ...

, nursery, and shelter, the reefs serve as relays for

sea bream The Sparidae are a family of fish in the order Perciformes, commonly called sea breams and porgies. The sheepshead, scup, and red seabream are species in this family. Most sparids are deep-bodied compressed fish with a small mouth separated by a ...

which are produced in the hatcheries and released into open water near the artificial reefs that are home to the adult fish. Japanese scientists have evidence that specifically designed shallow water reefs can improve survival and growth of juvenile

abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Haliotidae. Other common name In biology, a common name of a taxon o ...

. While the Japanese have been putting millions, and in recent years billions, of dollars into developing sophisticated techniques to create new habitat and increase

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

production.(Sheehy, 1982)

, and more recently

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, have put most of their effort into specifically designed and constructed units.

Bibliography

*Ino, T. 1974. ''Historical review of artificial reef activities in Japan'', In L. Colunga and R. B.Stone (editors), Proceedings of an international conference on artificial reefs, p. 21- 23.

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. *Sheehy, D. J. 1979. ''Fisheries development: Japan. Water Spectrum'' 12(1):1-9. *Sheehy, D. J. 1981. ''Artificial reef programs in Japan and Taiwan'', In D. Y. Aska (editor), Artificial reefs: Conference proceedings, p. 185-198. Fla. *Sheehy, D. J. 1982. ''Artificial reefs in Japan'', In J. D. Murray (compiler), Mid-Atlantic artificial reef conference a collection of abstracts, p. 7. N.J. *S. Pioch, JC Raynal, G. Lasserre, ''Artificial habitats, an evolutionary element of the strategy for integrated coastal zone management'', Proceedings of the Japanese-French Symposium of Oceanography, Marseille, 7–9 September 2008, 7 p. *S. Pioch, JC Raynal, JP Doumenge, ''Development of Japanese coastal areas. Artificial reefs, an effective way to compensate for the depletion of fish stocks'', International Festival of Geography, Saint-Die, 8–10 October 2008 *S. Pioch, ''Limiting the irreversible decline of exploited coastal stocks? Planning to improve fish production in Japan'', Proceedings of the 8th Fishing Measurement forum, French Association of "Halieumétrie" (Fish Measurements), La Rochelle, 19–21 June 2007, p 2. *S. Pioch, ''Artificial Reefs and Repopulation in Japan'', Paul Valery University lab. Gester, Ifremer, Egis Eau, Montpellier, January–March 2007, 132 p.

Videography

*S. Pioch, S. Bontemps, ''Board and Lodging for the fish'', Thalassa,

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...

and

TV5 Monde TV5Monde (), formerly known as TV5, is a French public television network, broadcasting several channels of French-language programming. It is an approved participant member of the European Broadcasting Union. The network is available acros ...

, 18 April 2008.

Notes and references

External links

Protection For South Florida Reefs
(大気海洋研究所, Taiki kaiyō kenkyūsho) of the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, founded in 1962 to develop oceanographic science
''Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology''
(東京海洋大学, Tōkyō kaiyō daigaku), very active in research and development of artificial reefs in Japan
''Artificial Reefs: Toward a New Era in Fisheries Enhancement?''
Richard B. Stone, June–July 1982 {{DEFAULTSORT:Artificial Reefs In Japan Fishing industry in Japan Coastal construction Marine architecture Reefs Artificial reefs