A global database of intentionally deployed wrecks to serve as artificial reefs
Iglika Ilieva,
Lionel Jouvet,
Lars Seidelin,
Benjamin D. Best,
Sofia Aldabet,
Rita da Silva,
Dalia A. Conde
Affiliations
Iglika Ilieva
Biology Department, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense, Denmark
Lionel Jouvet
Biology Department, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense, Denmark; Interdisciplinary Centre on Population Dynamics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense, Denmark; Species360 Conservation Science Alliance, 7900 International Drive, Suite 1040, Bloomington, MN 55425, USA
Lars Seidelin
Biology Department, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense, Denmark
Benjamin D. Best
EcoQuants LLC, 508 E Haley St, Santa Barbara, CA 93103, USA
Sofia Aldabet
Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden
Rita da Silva
Biology Department, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense, Denmark; Interdisciplinary Centre on Population Dynamics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense, Denmark; Species360 Conservation Science Alliance, 7900 International Drive, Suite 1040, Bloomington, MN 55425, USA
Dalia A. Conde
Biology Department, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense, Denmark; Interdisciplinary Centre on Population Dynamics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense, Denmark; Species360 Conservation Science Alliance, 7900 International Drive, Suite 1040, Bloomington, MN 55425, USA; Corresponding author.
This paper contains data on intentionally deployed wrecks to serve as artificial reefs from 1942 to 2016. The deployment of decommissioned vessels and other available wrecks is a common practice in many coastal countries, such as the USA, Australia, Malta, and New Zealand. We obtained data of georeferenced sites of wrecks from the scientific literature, local databases, and diving web sites published in the English language. Furthermore, we included information regarding the type of structure, location, depth, country, year of deployment and estimated life span. Moreover, we provide information on whether the wreck is located inside one of the World׳s Protected Areas, key biophysical Standard Level Data from the World Ocean Database, distance to reefs from the Coral Trait Database, and distances to 597 aquariums that are members of the Species360 global network of Aquariums and Zoological institutions, in the Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS). We provide data for wrecks with monitoring surveys in the peer-review literature, although these only comprise 2% of the records (36 of 1907 wrecks). The data we provide here can be used for research and evaluation of already deployed reefs, especially if combined with additional spatial information on biodiversity and threats. Keywords: Artificial reef, Shipwreck, Sunken vessels, Wrecks as reefs, Biodiversity, Conservation
