21Sep 2018

ANALYSIS OF FISH COMMUNITY AT THE FIRST ARTIFICIAL REEF IN MOROCCO (MARTIL, MEDITERRANEAN).

  • HASSAN II University , Faculty of science Ben M?sik, Laboratory of Ecology and Environment. INRH : National Institute of fisheries research
  • HASSAN II University, Faculty of science Ain Chock, Laboratory of aquatic Ecology and Environment.
  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • References
  • Cite This Article as
  • Corresponding Author

A pioneering project of artificial reefs was deployed in the northern Morocco (Mediterranean) for the first time in 2012 as a innovative marine natural resources management measure aiming to protect coastal habitat, conserve biodiversity but most importantly improve fisheries catches for an eventual socio- economical impact on the locals. To assess the reef attraction of fish fauna to the structure and understand the assemblage structure post deployment, Seasonal samplings were conducted from July 2012 to June 2014 in 6 different stations of the Martil Artificial Reef. The present study aims to analyze the artificial reef of Martil after two years of scientific monitoring by obtaining a first assessment of the fish assemblage in terms of species composition, abundance and biomass. A total of 16 fish species were identified.The abundance and biomass of the identifiedspeciesshows a variation in evolution, the Shannon-wiener and evenness indexes have gradually increased indicating that stabilization of the Martil artificial reef community is a slow and long term process. For some species,the reefacts as aprotection area, for others, it is a reproduction area.


  1. State of Florida artificial reef strategic plan. Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. (Division of Marine Fisheries, 2003) 15 pp.
  2. Barans, C.A., Bortone, S.A., 1983. The visual assessment of fish populations in the southeastern United States: 1982 Workshop.Technical Report 1 (SC-SG-TR-01-83), South Carolina Grant Consortium, Charleston.
  3. Bauchot L.,? PRAS A., 1980.? Guide des poissonsmarinsd?Europe. Delachaux&Niestl? edit. Lausanne?: 427pp.
  4. Bayle-Sempere, J. T., Ramos-Espla?, A. A., and Charton, G. 1994. Intra-annual variability of an artificial reef fish assemblage in the marine reserve of Tabarca (Alicante, Spain, SW Mediterranean). Bulletin of Marine Science, 55: 824?835.
  5. Bohnsack, J.A. et Sutherland, D.L. Artificial reef research: a review with recommendations for future priorities. Bulletin of Marine Science 37 (1985) 11-39.
  6. Bohnsack, J.A. 1996. Maintenance and recovery of reef fishery productivity. In: Polunin, N.V.C., Roberts, C.M. (Eds.), Reef Fisheries. Chapman and Hall, London, pp. 283?313.
  7. Bortone, S.A., Kimmel, J.J. 1991. Environmental assessment and monitoring of artificial reefs. In: Seaman Jr., W., Sprague, L.M. (Eds.), Artificial Habitats for Marine and Freshwater Fisheries. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 177? 236.
  8. Bortone, S.A., Samoilys, M.A., Francour, P. 2000. Fish and macroinvertebrate evaluation. In: Seaman Jr., W. (Ed.), Artificial Reef Evaluation with application to Natural Marine Habitats. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp. 127?164.
  9. Bortone, S.A., Samoilys, M.A., Francour, P. 2000. Fish and macroinvertebrate evaluation. In: Seaman Jr., W. (Ed.), Artificial Reef Evaluation with application to Natural Marine Habitats. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp. 127? 164.
  10. Charbonnel, E., Francour, P., Harmelin, J.G., Ody, D. 1995. Les proble`mesd?e?chantillonnageet de recensement du peuplementichtyologiquedans les r?cifsartificiels. Biol. Mar. Mediterr. 2 (1), 85?90.
  11. Christian, R. Steimle, F. et Stone, R., Evolution of marine artificial reef development ? a philosophical review of management strategies. Gulf of Mexico Science (1) (1998) 32-36.
  12. Coll, M., Libralato, S., (2012). Contributions of food-web modelling for an Ecosystem Approach of Marine Resource Management in the Mediterranean Sea. Fish and Fisheries. 13: 60?88.
  13. Coll, M., Piroddi, C., Kaschner, K., Ben RaisLasram, F., Steenbeek, J. (2010) The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: estimates, patterns and threats. PLoS ONE 5: doi:10.1371
  14. Costello MJ, Coll M, Danovaro R, Halpin P, Ojaveer H, et al. (2010) A census of marine biodiversity knowledge, resources and future challenges PLoS One 5: e12110.
  15. Fischer W., Schneider M., Bauchot M.L., eds. 1987. fiches FAO d?identification des esp?ces pour les besoins de la peche. M?diterran?eet mer noire?: zone de p?che 37 (r?vision 1). Volume II. Vert?br?s. Commission des communaut?seurop?ennes and FAO. Rome, Italie.
  16. Harmelin ?Vivien, M. et Harmelin, J.G., Pr?sentationd?unem?thoded??valuationin situ de la fauneichtyologique. Sci. Parc Nation. Port-Cros, 1 (1975) 47-52.
  17. Harmelin, J. C. 1987. Structure etvariabilite? de l?ichtyofauned?une zone rocheuse prot?g?e en M?diterran?e (Parc national de Port-Cros, France). P.S.Z.N.I., Marine Ecology, 8(3): 263?284.
  18. Harmelin-Vivien, M.L., Harmelin, J.G., Chauvet, C., Duval, C., Galzin, R., Lejeune, P., Barnab?, G., Blanc, F., Chevalier, R., Duclerc, J., Lasserre, G., 1985. Evaluation visuelle des peuplementset populations de poissons: m?thodes et probl?mes. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie) 40, 467?539.
  19. Lotze HK, Coll M, Dunne J (2011) Historical changes in marine resources, food- web structure and ecosystem functioning in the Adriatic Sea. Ecosystems 14: 198?222.
  20. Michalopoulos, C., Auster, P.J., Malatesta, R.J., 1992. A comparison of transect and species time counts for assessing faunal abundance from video surveys.Mar. Tech. Soc. J. 26 (4), 27?31.
  21. Pickering, H.D. etWhitmarsh, D., Artificial reefs and fisheries exploitation: a review of the ?attraction versus production? debate, the influence of design and its significance for Fisheries Research 31 (1997) 39-59.
  22. Pondela II D. J., Stephens Jr. J. S. et Craig M. T., Fish production of a temperate rtificial reef ased on the density of embiotocids (Teleotei: Perciformes). Journal of Marine Science 59 (2002) 88?S93.
  23. Potts, G.W., Wood, J.W., Edwards, J.M., 1987. Scuba diver operated low-light-level video system for use in underwater research and survey. J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. UK, 299?306.
  24. Relini, G., Relini, M., Torchia, G., and Palandri, G. 2002. Ten years of censuses of fish fauna on the Loano artificial reef. ? ICES Journal of Marine Science, 59: S132?S137
  25. Roux J-P, van der Lingen CD, Gibbons MJ, Moroff NE, Shannon LJ, et al. (2013) Jellyfication of Marine Ecosystems as a Likely Consequence of Overfishing Small Pelagic Fishes: Lessons from the Benguela. Bulletin of Marine Science 89: 249?284.
  26. Samoilys, M., 1997. Underwater visual census surveys. In: Samoilys, M. (Ed.), Manual for Assessing Fish Stocks on Pacific Coral Reefs. Department of Primary Industries, Townsville, Australia.
  27. Santos, M. N. et Monteiro C. C., Comparison of the catch and fishing yield from an artificial reef system and neighbouring areas off Faro (south Portugal). Fisheries Research39 (1998) 55?65.
  28. Santos, M. N. etMonteiro C. C., Olhao artificial reef system (south Portugal): fish fishing yield. Fisheries Research30 (1997) 33?41.
  29. Seaman, W et Jensen, A., Purposes and practices of artificial reef evaluation. In: Seaman, W. (ed) Artificial Reef Evaluation with Application to Marine Habitats. (CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2000), pp. 1-20.
  30. Seaman, W. et Hoover, A., Artificial reefs: the Florida Sea Grant connection ? science serving Florida?s coast. (Florida Sea Grant, SGEF-144, 2001): 4 pp.
  31. Spieler, R. E., Gilliam, D. S. et Sherman, R. L., Artificial substrate and coral reef restoration: what do we need to know to know what we need. Bulletin of Marine Science, 69 (2) (2001) 1013?1030.
  32. Stephens, J. Jr. etPondela II D., Larval productivity of a mature artificial reef: the ichthyoplankton of King Harbor, California. ICESJournal of Marine Science59 (2002) S51?S58.
  33. Tessier, E., Chabanet, P., Pothin, K., Soria, M., Lasserre, G., 2005. Visual census of tropical fish assemblages on artificial reef: slate versus video recording techniques. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 315 (1), 17?30.
  34. Tipping, M.J., 1994. Measuring fish by video image processing. Progr. Fish Cult. 56, 299?300.
  35. Tresher, R.E., Gunn, J.S., 1986. Comparative analysis of visual census techniques for highly mobile, reef associated piscivores (Carangidae). Environ. Biol. Fishes 17, 93? 116.
  36. Watson, D.L., Harvey, E.S., Anderson, M.J., Kendrick, G.A., 2005. A comparison of temperate reef fish assemblages recorded by three underwater stereo-video techniques. Mar. Biol. 148, 415?425.
  37. Whitehead P.J.P., Bauchot M.L., Hureau J.C., Nielsen J., Tortonese E., 1986, Fishes of the north eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO, Paris. vol. I, II and III: 173 pp.
  38. Wilson, K. D. P., Leung, A. W. Y. et Kennish, R., Restoration of Hong Kong fisheries through deployment of artificial reefs in marine protected areas. ICES Journal of Marine Science59 (2003) S157?

[El mdari m., idhalla m., tamsouri n., kaddioui a., nhalla h., hilmi k., el hamoumi r.. (2018); ANALYSIS OF FISH COMMUNITY AT THE FIRST ARTIFICIAL REEF IN MOROCCO (MARTIL, MEDITERRANEAN). Int. J. of Adv. Res. 6 (Sep). 726-735] (ISSN 2320-5407). www.journalijar.com


EL MDARI Mouna
Laboratory of Ecology and Environment, Faculty of science Ben M’sik, HASSAN II University.

DOI:


Article DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01/7730      
DOI URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/7730