Artificial Reefs : Refining their Role in the Environment and Local Economies

Artificial Reefs: Refining Their Role in the Environment and Local Economies represents the accumulation of over 50 years of research on artificial reefs, as presented at the 12th International Conference on Artificial Reefs and Related Aquatic Habitats (CARAH) held in Colombia in the spring of 2025. The edited, multi-authored chapters offer an up-to-date examination of broad areas of artificial reefs. These include fisheries, environmental management, survey techniques, sophisticated applications of statistical analysis, socio-economics, and the role of the citizen scientists in further expanding future research efforts.

A general theme throughout the volume is the consideration given to historical trends in methods, developments, and changes that have occurred during the past 50 years. This book builds on the strong foundation laid by our earlier colleagues and mentors. Each chapter brings together a long and fabled history of research but, more importantly, demonstrates the progress and development that artificial reef research has taken with the inclusion of modern technology, sophisticated analyses, and broadened goals of artificial reef deployments.

Careful consideration is given in every chapter to the relationships artificial reefs have with the local communities with which they are proximate. The subtitle of the book thus emphasizes the modern role that artificial reefs are playing in the economies of coastal communities.

This foundational material will provide guidance for the next 50 years of research on artificial reefs.

Stephen A. Bortone, PhD., retired as Executive Director of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and now serves as a principal in an environmental consulting firm (Osprey Aquatic Sciences, LLC) specializing in fisheries and other aquatic sciences. Formerly, he was Director of the Minnesota Sea Grant College Program located in Duluth where he had an appointment as Professor of Biology at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Also, he held positions as Director of the Marine Laboratory at the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation in Sanibel, Florida, Director of Environmental Science at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, and Director of the Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Research while Professor of Biology at the University of West Florida. Dr. Bortone received the B.S. degree (Biology) from Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania; the M.S. degree (Biological Sciences) from Florida State University, Tallahassee; and the Ph.D. (Marine Science) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1973.

For the past 57 years, he has conducted research on fisheries and the life history of aquatic organisms, especially fishes, chiefly in the southeastern U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico. He has published over 180 scientific articles on the broadest aspects of the Aquatic Sciences but mostly on Fisheries. In addition, he has edited nine books on the aquatic sciences: Sea Grasses, Biology of the Spotted Sea Trout, Estuarine Indicators, Artificial Reefs in Fisheries Management (with F. Brandini, G. Fabi, and S. Otake), Interrelationships between Corals and Fisheries, and Red Snapper Biology in a Changing World (with S. Szedlmayer), and Modern Fisheries Engineering (with S. Otake), and this volume - all with CRC Press; as well as Marine Artificial Reef Research and Development: Integrating Fisheries Management Objectives published by the American Fisheries Society.

Conducting his research and teaching activities, Dr. Bortone has traveled widely. He has served as Visiting Scientist at The Johannes Gutenberg University (Mainz, Germany) and conducted extensive field surveys with colleagues from La Laguna University in the Canary Islands. He was Mary Ball Washington Scholar at University College Dublin, Ireland. He has received numerous teaching and research awards, including the title “Fellow” from the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists, “Certified Fisheries Professional” by the American Fisheries Society and “Certified Senior Ecologist” by the Ecological Society of America.

Oscar Delgadillo-G, MS., holds a degree in Marine Biology from the Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano and a Master’s degree in Marine Biology from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. He is the founder and principal of MoAm S.A.S., a Colombian research firm, where he has formulated and developed 44 projects, 37 of which were led by MoAm, in collaboration with 48 public environmental and management institutions, private companies, NGOs, research institutes, and universities.

His career has largely focused on the design, implementation, and assessment of artificial reefs for artisanal fisheries, ecological restoration, and biodiversity conservation along the Caribbean coast of Colombia, with recent expansion into the Pacific region. His research disciplines also encompass marine and coastal ecology, fish and invertebrate biology, mariculture, invasive and endangered species, protected areas, the design of monitoring programs, and both biophysical and socioeconomic assessments.

To date, he has authored 14 research articles, book chapters, and institutional books, as well as 41 academic abstracts, two biodiversity datasets, and 46 technical reports. He has directed and advised seven undergraduate theses in marine biology and has served as a peer reviewer for eight international scientific journals. Most recently, he served as chair and organizer of the 12th International Conference on Artificial Reefs and Related Aquatic Habitats (CARAH), held in Santa Marta, Colombia.

Ilana R. Zalmon, PhD., has a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Rio de Janeiro (1984), a Master's degree in Biological Sciences (Zoology) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1988), a PhD in Biological Sciences (Zoology/Biosciences) from the University of São Paulo (1995), and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara (2007-2008), where she studied fish associated with biogenic structures. She is a Senior Professor at the University of Northern Rio de Janeiro, where she works since 1995 as a teacher and researcher. Her studies focus on the ecology of natural marine communities (rocky shores, sandy beaches) and experimental communities (biofouling and artificial reefs), as well as the management and conservation of coastal and fishery resources (surf zone fish and artisanal fisheries). Since 1996, artificial reefs have become one of her main research topics, encompassing studies on materials, dimensions, functions, analytical methods, reef design, ecological theories, socioeconomic aspects, and productive potential. She is the author of more than 130 scientific papers and 17 book chapters related to artificial reefs, coastal ecosystems, and their anthropogenic impacts. One of her major scientific contributions has been the supervision of around 70 undergraduate, master´s, PhD and postdoctoral students.