A Report on the Artificial Reef Use in Grenada, West Indies

Abstract

Coral reef rehabilitation in the Caribbean is of major ecological and economic importance in the West Indies. Local organizations in Grenada constructed a cement pyramid artificial reef structure with rugosity (termed “The Pyramid”) and placed a number of these artificial reefs in a shallow marine area fringing two major natural reefs in the southwest coastal region of Grenada. Benthic data for two nearby natural reefs were compared to the benthic evaluation of the artificial reef pyramids. This comparison demonstrated that the artificial reef pyramids were similar in many respects to the natural reefs but were significantly different in macro- and coralline algae cover, two key indicators of reef health. This report is the first benthic evaluation of an artificial reef through comparison to natural reefs in Grenada.

Keywords

• manmade reefs
• tropical reefs
• Caribbean
• coral reef health
• benthic
• marine protected area