Artificial reefs are important management tools for red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, fisheries in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. I deployed fish traps (0.97 m long; 0.64 m height; 175 x 115 mm funnel mouth size) to collect red snapper < 406 mm total length (TL) associated with pyramid-shaped artificial reef structures (3.7 m triangular base; 2.4 m height; 3.2 metric tons) to evaluate two reef distribution designs: (1) five closely-spaced pyramid units, and (2) five closely-spaced pyramids with two sets of two pyramids at 30.5, 61.0, and 91.5 m from the five pyramids. In 26 sampling trips, 927 red snapper were captured. Catch per unit effort (fish/hour) did not differ significantly among patterns (P= 0.396). Red snapper lengths differed significantly among patterns (P= 0.005), with the largest mean total length (235 mm, SE= 5.14) occurring at the pattern with 61.0-m spacing.

As human activity along coastlines increase, degradation and destruction of coastal marine ecosystems around the globe will increase at an alarming rate. In an effort to mitigate degradation and destruction of coastal marine ecosystems, artificial reefs have been used in restoration and enhancement projects. As artificial reefs are the main method of restoring diversity to a degraded area, it is important to know the mechanisms that drive marine community assembly and diversity on those reefs. Understanding community assembly patterns of foundational species, in particular, may provide insight to community assembly patterns at higher trophic levels. Subtidal macroalgae are commonly seen as foundational species in marine environments and both deterministic and stochastic processes play a role in their assembly. Environmental gradients, which are deterministic processes, play a significant role in structuring subtidal macroalgae communities. Depth, which is negatively correlated with light, is the main driver structuring subtidal macroalgal communities, however, other gradients such as water flow, and distance to a propagule source also impact their assembly. This study sought to determine which environmental gradients play a prominent role in subtidal macroalgal community assembly. To study subtidal macroalgal community assembly, 92 artificial reef units called Reef Balls were deployed east of the Ogden Point Breakwater in Victoria, BC in June 2009. Two years passed to allow for macroalgal growth and early successional processes to occur prior to sampling the communities on thirty Reef Balls via underwater collection in July 2011. Algae were sorted by genus and dry weight was measured. To determine effects of environmental gradients on community assembly light, depth, water flow, distance to the nearest Reef Ball and distance to the breakwater were measured at each Reef Ball. A redundancy analysis revealed that depth was the most significant environmental gradient shaping algae communities and had the greatest effect on upper canopy algae. Spatial plots reveal a depth and coastline zonation of algae genera comprising the canopy. While depth was found to significantly structure algae genera found in the canopy, there was a high degree of unexplained variation in the model. This suggests that unmeasured variables such as colonization and priority effects may be driving algal community structure in the lower canopy. Differences in community structure between upper and lower canopy reveal that multiple mechanisms are responsible for shaping subtidal algal communities. Further study is required to determine the importance of stochastic colonization events and priority effects. / Graduate / 0329 / vmucciar@uvic.ca

As human activity along coastlines increase, degradation and destruction of coastal marine ecosystems around the globe will increase at an alarming rate. In an effort to mitigate degradation and destruction of coastal marine ecosystems, artificial reefs have been used in restoration and enhancement projects. As artificial reefs are the main method of restoring diversity to a degraded area, it is important to know the mechanisms that drive marine community assembly and diversity on those reefs. Understanding community assembly patterns of foundational species, in particular, may provide insight to community assembly patterns at higher trophic levels. Subtidal macroalgae are commonly seen as foundational species in marine environments and both deterministic and stochastic processes play a role in their assembly. Environmental gradients, which are deterministic processes, play a significant role in structuring subtidal macroalgae communities. Depth, which is negatively correlated with light, is the main driver structuring subtidal macroalgal communities, however, other gradients such as water flow, and distance to a propagule source also impact their assembly. This study sought to determine which environmental gradients play a prominent role in subtidal macroalgal community assembly. To study subtidal macroalgal community assembly, 92 artificial reef units called Reef Balls were deployed east of the Ogden Point Breakwater in Victoria, BC in June 2009. Two years passed to allow for macroalgal growth and early successional processes to occur prior to sampling the communities on thirty Reef Balls via underwater collection in July 2011. Algae were sorted by genus and dry weight was measured. To determine effects of environmental gradients on community assembly light, depth, water flow, distance to the nearest Reef Ball and distance to the breakwater were measured at each Reef Ball. A redundancy analysis revealed that depth was the most significant environmental gradient shaping algae communities and had the greatest effect on upper canopy algae. Spatial plots reveal a depth and coastline zonation of algae genera comprising the canopy. While depth was found to significantly structure algae genera found in the canopy, there was a high degree of unexplained variation in the model. This suggests that unmeasured variables such as colonization and priority effects may be driving algal community structure in the lower canopy. Differences in community structure between upper and lower canopy reveal that multiple mechanisms are responsible for shaping subtidal algal communities. Further study is required to determine the importance of stochastic colonization events and priority effects. / Graduate / 0329 / vmucciar@uvic.ca

Marketing de lugares se caracteriza como uma ferramenta para a gestão das trocas que ocorrem no âmbito territorial possibilitando o fortalecimento da competitividade e da imagem de uma determinada localidade através da geração e entrega de valor a seus diferentes mercados e da atração de investimentos que assegurem seu desenvolvimento no longo prazo. Neste cenário, esta pesquisa apresenta como objeto de estudo o recife artificial multifuncional, estrutura implantada em ambiente marinho com a finalidade de promover a proteção costeira, aprimorar as condições de surfe e criar novos habitats marinhos. Sob a perspectiva de marketing, o potencial benefício deste programa de ação está ancorado no desenvolvimento do lugar e na entrega de valor aos seus públicos a partir da manutenção da infraestrutura local de forma sustentável, da oferta de lazer aos usuários, do aumento do número de visitantes e do incremento da rede de serviços. Neste contexto, o objetivo da tese é a investigação dos impactos resultantes da implantação do recife artificial multifuncional e da relação entre as bases conceituais do marketing de lugares com suas implicações práticas a fim de incentivar o avanço desta linha de pesquisa, principalmente no Brasil, onde o conhecimento da área se encontra em estágio embrionário. Para tanto, a pesquisa qualitativa exploratória aqui presente se divide em duas partes. A primeira apresenta a revisão teórica abordando o conceito de marketing de lugares e três grandes blocos do marketing para fundamentar o raciocínio: produto, segmentação e posicionamento. A segunda parte desenvolve o estudo de caso da cidade de Gold Coast na Austrália contando com coleta de dados por meio de análise documental e entrevista. Os resultados observados na pesquisa indicam que a implantação do recife artificial multifuncional trouxe uma significativa contribuição para o desenvolvimento de longo prazo da localidade analisada e que grande parte das implicações práticas do marketing de lugares observadas no caso encontra-se alinhada à teoria revisitada. O estudo permite ainda sugerir recomendações para localidades que planejam implantar o recife artificial multifuncional em seus programas de ação. / Place marketing is characterized as a tool for the management of exchanges that take place in the territorial scope thus strengthening competitiveness and image of a particular place by generating and delivering value to its different markets and attracting investments to ensure its development in the long term. In this scenario, this research presents as the object of study the multipurpose artificial reef, a structure implemented in the marine environment in order to promote coastal protection, improve surfing conditions and create new marine habitats. From a marketing perspective, the potential benefit of this action program is anchored in place development and value delivering to its stakeholders, through the maintenance of local infrastructure in a sustainable way, the leisure offer to users, increasing the number of visitors and the enhance in services network. In this sense, the objective of the thesis deals with the investigation of impacts resulting from the implementation of multipurpose artificial reef and the relationship between the conceptual bases of place marketing with its practical implications in order to encourage the advancement of this field of research, especially in Brazil, where knowledge of the area is in the embryonic stage. To that end, the exploratory qualitative research hereby is divided into two parts. The first presents a theoretical review addressing place marketing concept and three major marketing blocks to support the reasoning: product, targeting and positioning. The second part develops the case study of Gold Coast City in Australia relying on data collection through documents analysis and interview. The results from this research indicate that the implementation of the multipurpose artificial reef brought a significant contribution to the long term development of the place in analysis and much of the practical implications of place marketing observed in the case are in line with theory revisited. The study also allows suggesting recommendations for places planning to deploy multipurpose artificial reef in their action programs.

Synthetic marine habitats such as artificial reefs (ARs) are deployed to offset marine habitat losses and aid conservation of marine communities, including species at risk. Though environmental benefit is often assumed, AR’s ability to support northern temperate marine fish communities has rarely been tested. The structural orientation and location of a reef can strongly influence biodiversity and productivity of faunal communities inhabiting it. For ARs, understanding how reef characteristics affect species and community composition are key in optimizing their use in conservation initiatives. I used ROV and sonar to survey threatened rockfish (Sebastes spp.) and other groundfish species associated with 18 ARs and natural reefs (NRs) along the northeast Pacific coastal shelf, along the coast of BC, Canada. In my second chapter, I investigate how ARs compare to NRs in achieving conservation objectives as measured by fish abundance and species richness. I found that community composition significantly differed between NRs and ARs. ARs had high variability in rockfish abundance, while NRs consistently supported intermediate rockfish abundances. Groundfish diversity was markedly greater on NRs. Depth and relief significantly explained variability in abundance and species richness. Interestingly, rockfish abundance was negatively associated with proximity to nearest rockfish conservation area. In my third chapter, I assess variation between AR fish communities on six reefs to better understand efficacy of meeting conservation objectives. I quantified structural characteristics of each reef using high-definition sonar data to create three-dimensional models and calculate measurements of reef structure. I also examined the effects of surrounding habitat associated with reef locations. I found that depth, conservation status, rugosity, and reef age significantly explained rockfish abundance. Groundfish species richness was significantly associated with conservation status, relief, reef size, and an interaction between depth and reef age. This research is a first step in proposing underlying mechanisms for differences between fish communities on ARs in BC, and which reef attributes facilitate successful contributions to conservation. Though ARs show promise in the conservation of some threatened species, the maintenance of diverse fish communities may depend on protection of heterogeneous natural reef communities. Given that a critical component of AR success is structure, using three-dimensional technologies can be used as a tool to understand species-habitat association on existing reefs and help predict the success of future reefs. / Graduate

Submitted by (edna.saturno@ufrpe.br) on 2017-02-09T15:28:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Diogo Silva de Oliveira.pdf: 828978 bytes, checksum: e077b5bb267ab11101ecfabc9b5887ee (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-09T15:28:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Diogo Silva de Oliveira.pdf: 828978 bytes, checksum: e077b5bb267ab11101ecfabc9b5887ee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / From June 2009 to May 2011 were made 18 dives and accounted for approximately 17,572 individuals in 65 species 44 genera and 29 families. The number of indentified species, varied in each dive and the months with lowest and highest number of species in June 2009 (15 species) January 2011 (41 species). The most common species were Haemulon aurolineatum and Haemulon squamipinna with the formation of schools with approximately 1,000 and 2,000 individuals respectively representing 76,7% of the total individuals sampled. The most representative families were Labridae (10 species), Lutjanidae (6 species), Carangidae and Haemulidae with 5 species and Epinephelidae (4 species). The relationship between Shannon Winner (H’) and Pielou evenness (J), presented a decrease the first to the second year of sampling, reaching maximum values of H’=2.98, J=0.56 and H’=1.52, J=0.29 respectively. These values were significantly different (Kuskal Wallis = 12.87, p<0,05) between the diversity of the first year for the second sample, as well as the evenness (Kuskal Wallis = 12.82, p<0.05). The summer months had similarity (>80%) showing a homogeneous and diverse fish community. Some behaviors were possible to be observed in the artificial reef, as follower’s species, cleaning symbiosis, feeding and breeding. However, this artificial reef showed that despite the short time of installation has been great ecological importance because its great wealth and diversity of existing economic, as it protects the species from overfishing, because the government (State Decree 23.394/2001) making it a crime for some destructive practice this artificial environment. / No período de junho de 2009 a maio de 2011 foram realizados 18 mergulhos e contabilizadas aproximadamente 17572 individuos distribuidos em 65 espécies, 44 gêneros e 29 famílias. O número de espécies identificadas, variou em cada mergulho, tendo os meses com menor e maior número de espécie em, junho de 2009 (15 espécies) e janeiro de 2011 (41 espécies). As espécies mais comuns foram Haemulon aurolineatum e H. squamipinna, com a formação de cardumes com aproximadamente 1.000 e 2.000 indivíduos, respectivamente, e representando 76,7% do total de indivíduos amostrados. As famílias mais representativas foram Labridae, com 10 espécies; Lutjanidae (6 espécies), Haemulidae e Carangidae, com 5 espécies e Epinephelidae (4 espécies). A relação entre diversidade Shannon Winner (H’) e equitabilidade Pielou (J), apresentou um decréscimo do 1º para o 2º ano de amostragem, atingindo seus valores máximos de H’ = 2,98 J = 0,56 e H’ = 1,52; J = 0,29, respectivamentes. Esses valores foram significativamente diferentes (Kruskal Wallis =12,87; p<0.05) entre a diversidade do primeiro para o segundo ano amostral, assim como, na equitabilidade (Kruskal Wallis =12,82; p<0.05). Os meses de verão tiveram uma alta similaridade (>80%), mostrando uma comunidade ictia diversificada e homogênea. Alguns comportamentos foram possíveis de ser observados no recife artificial, como espécies seguidoras, simbiose de limpeza, alimentação, reprodução. Contudo, esse recife artificial mostrou que, apesar do pouco tempo de instalação está sendo de grande importância ecológica, devido sua grande riqueza e diversidade já existente, econômica, uma vez que protege espécies da pesca predatória, devido à lei (Decreto Estadual nº 23.394/ 2001) tornando crime qualquer prática destrutiva nesse ambiente artificial.

Groupers (Epinephelidae: Epinephelinae) are apex predators within many reef communities worldwide. Grouper landings contribute significantly to global fisheries, and many populations are suffering from unsustainable levels of exploitation. The large size, site specificity and catchability of most groupers increase susceptibility to fishing pressure, and a large number of grouper species throughout the world are currently overfished. Multiple species are listed as endangered or threatened, and many have suffered local extirpations across their range. Removal of these upper level predators can significantly alter community structure and result in second order effects that may have critical ecological implications. The economic and ecological value of groupers is significant, and data regarding the abundance, habitat and behavior of these exploited species are necessary in order to implement realistic and effective management strategies. Atlantic Goliath Grouper (Epinephelus itajara) historically occurred in tropical and subtropical waters from the west coast of Africa to the east coast of Florida, south to Brazil, and throughout the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. As one of the world's largest groupers, individuals are known to reach at least 37 years of age, and may grow to sizes exceeding 2.5 meters and 400 kilograms. The life history and behavioral characteristics of this species amplify vulnerability to exploitation, and Atlantic Goliath Grouper harvest was banned in U.S. waters in 1990 after a noted sharp decline in population numbers. The species has responded encouragingly to protective measures; however, the population's recovery and present status with U.S. waters should be thoroughly evaluated before altering regulatory guidelines. Traditional fishery-dependent data are not available (i.e., landings data); thus estimates of population demographics and recovery are dependent upon directed, fishery independent research efforts. It was the goal of this project to provide information regarding demographics, movement patterns, effects of catch and release angling, and feeding behavior of Atlantic Goliath Grouper within the central eastern Gulf of Mexico. The majority of research involving Atlantic Goliath Grouper began after the stock was already overfished, resulting in the absence of an existing "baseline" with which to compare current population parameters. Replication of visual surveys over a range of depths and habitat types provided an index of abundance for specific sites, and allowed for quantification of the size distribution of individuals. Atlantic Goliath Grouper were most abundant at high relief, high volume artificial reefs within the study area, and the majority of individuals observed were 80 - 160 cm in total length. Knowledge of fish movement, behavior and habitat associations has been used to exploit many species of fish; thus, this knowledge is critical for the creation of regulatory guidelines regarding conservation. Protection from harvest does not immediately imply that fishing mortality is negligible. As opportunistic ambush predators, Atlantic Goliath Grouper are relatively easy to catch on hook and line, and the species is often targeted for sport or caught incidentally during angling efforts for other reef fish species. Acoustic tracking allowed for continuous monitoring of individuals for several years after catch and release events. Barotrauma severity increased with capture depth, but immediate mortality was not observed during this study. Additionally, the length of total monitoring period was not affected by the severity of barotrauma, which suggests that with proper handling, Atlantic Goliath Grouper are not subject to high levels of release mortality in the study area (at depths < 40 m). However, strong site fidelity of Atlantic Goliath Grouper to artificial reefs increases susceptibility to fishing pressure and amplifies interactions with anglers, so the chronic effects of repeated capture remain unclear. Description and quantification of goliath grouper feeding behavior may allow for innovative suggestions to decrease the probability of catch and release mortality, and potentially offer new tactics to reduce opportunistic predation upon hooked fish. Kinematic analysis of Atlantic Goliath Grouper feeding sequences demonstrated that they are capable of modulating feeding behavior based upon prey activity level and position within the water column. Individuals exhibited larger maximum gapes and more rapid feeding sequences when presented with mobile live food. Immobile (dead) food was primarily consumed through suction, and strikes upon these items were characterized by slower, closer approaches, smaller maximum gapes and longer bite durations. It is hopeful that the information presented herein will provide insight regarding the ecology of Atlantic Goliath Grouper and can be applied to future management efforts involving this protected species.

To determine whether an artificial reef installation is feasible, there must be a thorough characterization of the habitat. An understanding of both small-scale and large-scale environmental processes is needed to determine factors that potentially will influence the reef. Large-scale processes include coastal circulation, wave climate, and sediment dynamics that take place over spatial scales of tens to hundreds of kilometers in the region of the reef. Small-scale processes include the physical characteristics in the immediate vicinity of the reef - the local current, wave and tide characteristics, temperature, salinity, and suspended and bottom sediments at a proposed reef site. The city of Port Richey, Florida, was considering installing an artificial reef of porcelain modules near Durney Key, a dredge spoil island just offshore. To assist in determining the feasibility of this proposal, I pursued three objectives: a) to characterize the oceanographic setting of Durney Key, including hydrodynamics, water quality and invertebrate biota; b) to investigate the potential for successful coral recruitment and growth in Durney Key waters; and c) to determine if porcelain is a suitable substrate for settlement of the larvae of coral species present in west central Florida. An array of Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) were used to measure water velocity, water stage and temperature around Durney Key. ADCP data showed currents around Durney Key are tidally dominated with velocities increasing in winter due to frontal passages. Seasonal stage variation ranges from 0.29 m (11.4 in) to 0.64 m (2.1 ft) and seasonal temperature ranged from 10°C and 35°C for winter and summer, respectively. Atmospheric data from the Port Richey COMPS site showed average wind speeds were higher in winter (3.7 m/s or 12.4 ft/s) than summer (3.1 m/s or 10.2 ft/s), corresponding to increased average water velocities. Inorganic nutrients, salinity and pH were measured and compared to data from patch reefs in the Florida Keys to characterize the water quality and determine its suitability for coral recruitment and growth. Compared to Florida Keys patch reef waters, Durney Key water salinity averaged 12 parts per thousand (ppt) lower, pH was more variable with a lower minimum, and total phosphorus was much higher. Ceramic and porcelain recruitment tiles deployed to investigate larval recruitment were colonized by turf, coralline and macroalgae, with barnacles recruiting secondarily. Sediment cores revealed foraminiferal and molluscan assemblages characteristic of productive estuarine conditions. The Durney Key area was deemed not suitable for coral recruitment and growth on an inshore artificial substratum because of temperature extremes, potential for minimal water movement during summer, frequent occurrences of low salinity and pH, and high total organic phosphorus. Faunal studies demonstrated that the dominant recruitment reflects the common coastal/estuarine biota, which does not include reef-building corals.

The seabed of the Southern Bight of the North Sea is mostly composed of sandy soft sediments. Natural hard substrates like pebbles are rare and only occur locally. Lost cargos or shipwrecks lie on the seabed as results of unintentional processes, but because of their inherent structure, they effectively act as artificial reefs deprived of an a priori defined set of functions. On Belgian waters, 231 shipwrecks and other artificial hard structures are dispersed on the continental shelf. Together with the sunken vessels of the neighbouring countries, they create a network of individually isolated hard substrates available for the colonization of the epifauna. The faunal diversity of these shipwrecks has never been studied before. This thesis analyzed the diversity as well as spatial and temporal variation in community structure of ten Belgian shipwreck sites. A total of 224 macrospecies have been identified, with at least 50 species new or rare for the Belgian fauna and Southern North Sea. All shipwrecks are strongly dominated by cnidarians in terms of biomass and by amphipods in terms of abundances. The artificial hard substrate communities isolate strongly from the surrounding soft sediment communities by sharing few species, being dominated by different faunal groups and having a distinct trophic organization. Looking at a cross-shore gradient of sites, three groups of shipwrecks could be determined. Metridium senile, a sea anemone, dominates a species poor community of the coastal sites. Channel water masses influence the offshore sites causing a more stable abiotic environment. The hydrozoan Tubularia indivisa dominates this community. Intermediate sites are also dominated by T. indivisa, but a higher biomass is here observed. It also appears that this T. indivisa is a key species allowing for the settlement of a large set of secondary epibionts. The shipwreck network is further discussed in the context of the regional diversity, dispersal of species and fisheries based applications

Along with advancement of human industrialization, pollution in the ocean is getting worse. Moreover, the overfishing through the years has caused catastrophic damage to the ocean eco-system. In order to avoid exhaustion of fishery resource, many concepts of planned administrative fishery has become popular, and thereamong, ocean ranch draws the most attention. Artificial reef plays a key role in an ocean ranch, which starts with incubating brood fish in the laboratory. Often, the brood fish will grow in the cage near coast till proper size, then be released to the artificial reef. If fish groups do not disperse and multiply, the artificial reef can be considered successful. The success of the artificial reef relies on the stable foundation. Consequently, the composition of seabed sediment under the planned site should be investigated thoroughly before hand. This research introduced a remote investigation method, which an active sonar, depth sounder, was used to emit and collect acoustic signals. By using the signals reflected from the seabed, the sediment composition can be analyzed. However, all acoustic signals are subjected to noise through propagation, and distorted somehow. Therefore, certain signal pre-processing should be applied to the received signal, and representative characteristics can be extracted from it. In this research, the recognition platform was built on artificial neural network (ANN) in this research. Among many network algorithm modes, this research chose the widely used backpropagation learning algorithm to be the main structure in ANN. The goal of this research was to discriminate among three seabed sediments: fine sand, medium sand, and rock. During the signal processing, characteristics were extracted by using peak value selection method. Selected major frequency peaks were fed into the network to train and learn. According to partial error relation between recognition and practical result, weights of the network were adjusted for improving successful ratio. Finally, a reliable acoustic wave signal recognition system was constructed.