New insights into artificial reefs
Artificial reefs have been found to attract more small foraging fish, or baitfish, than natural reefs.
This insight is due to the higher structures of artificial reefs, some reaching nine metres, which allow fish to spread out and feed much higher above the seafloor while still remaining safe in the structures.
This has allowed bottom-of-the-food chain fish to have more access to food than they normally would, even more so with the plankton swept through by the East Australian Current, with a flow on effect with benefits for their predators like the bluespotted flathead.
The findings have emphasised the need for protective habitats for forage fish, despite a 50 per cent decline in kelp — which itself is highly important to coastal food webs.
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