Artificial reefs are man-made, underwater structures installed to provide a substrate and shelter for organisms. For centuries, they have been used to increase local fish populations and their ability to replicate natural environments means they can be used to mimic globally declining natural reefs.
The Grand Anse Artificial Reef Project (GAARP) is a grassroots project based in Grenada, a small island in the south Caribbean. Six years ago, the small team launched their first concrete pyramid – a stack of breeze blocks – into the Caribbean Sea off Grand Anse beach. GAARP’s project lead explains: “around the world, reefs which have taken hundreds, if not thousands, of years to reach maturity are dying. I want to think of a way to boost start them.”
Now numbering 30, the concrete reef supports marine wildlife which relies on an increasingly threatened natural environment. This unconventional but successful method could provide coastal managers with a way to alleviate some of the problems facing coral reefs and coastal communities.
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