Helen Pickering

Artificial reefs and fisheries exploitation: a review of the `Attraction versus Production' debate, the influence of design and its significance for policy

Amidst the growing volume of published research on artificial reefs, one of the key questions concerns their potential for enhancing production over and above merely serving to attract and concentrate fish at specific sites. This paper reviews the ‘attraction versus production’ debate, highlighting the key role of design in determining a reef’s effectiveness. Though some studies have apparently demonstrated that artificial reefs are capable of acting as production enhancers, others have not, for reasons which may be associated with the design of the reef itself. The review identifies a number of lines of enquiry for future research, and argues that while the proper design of a reef is essential to maxim&e productive potential, this may be of little value in the absence of a management strategy aimed at controlling the build-up of harvesting pressure which some reefs may engender. 0 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

Artificial Reefs as a Tool to Aid Rehabilitation of Coastal Ecosystems: Investigating the Potential

Utilising case studies, the paper identifies the potential of artificial reefs as a tool to aid the rehabilitation of coastal ecosystems from an ecological perspective. It goes on to discuss how this potential can be constrained by the action of a complex array of legal frameworks and political processes which are not necessarily attuned to or supportive of the needs of habitat restoration (whether based on artificial reefs or other technologies). Apart from institutional inertia, one of the main reasons why support for habitat restoration projects may be lacking is that, while their costs may be expressed in monetary terms, their benefits rarely are. The paper concludes by exploring techniques by which both the benefits and costs of coastal rehabilitation may be monetised, thereby placing them on the same footing as other programmes whose economic returns are more easily quantified.

Artificial reefs of bulk waste materials: a scientific and legal review of the suitability of using the cement stabilised by-products of coal-fired power stations

The paper, based on work undertaken for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and National Power, reviews the growing interest in using cement stabilised coal-fired power station by-products (pulverised fly ash (PFA) and flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) gypsum) in artificial reef construction. It focuses on the physical and environmental suitability of the material and the legal and policy issues which will determine its future use. In so doing, it explores the relationship between science and policy making and the allengulfing nature of the wider environmental agenda.

Economic Effects of Fisheries Exclusion Zones: A Sicilian Case Study

Spatial approaches to fisheries management in the form of total or partial exclusion zones have attracted much interest in recent years, though relatively little is known in practice about how such measures impact fishermen or other groups of stakeholders. The present paper hopes to shed light on this issue by reporting the results of a recently completed EU project investigating the effects of a trawl ban introduced in the Gulf of Castellammare, NW Sicily, in 1990. The results indicate that the prohibition on trawling led to stock recovery and improved financial returns for the artisanal fishermen who have been permitted to operate within the restricted area. There is evidence, however, that the displacement of trawlers to the outer periphery of the exclusion zone has impacted adversely on artisanal operators located immediately outside the trawl ban area.

Investing in Artificial Reefs

Economic appraisal of an artificial reef proposal is an essential step in determining the role such a structure may play in, say, fishery enhancement. Reef projects may be appraised from the perspective of either a private commercial firm or society as a whole, though the emphasis of the present chapter will primarily be on the latter. The need for economic appraisal is likely to assume greater importance in the future, given that artificial reef deployment is increasingly undertaken in many countries on often loosely defined‘public interest’ grounds. Without a clear notion of what costs and benefits are likely to arise, however, there is a danger that artificial reefs will be constructed in circumstances which do not justify them. Artificial reefs may often be quite expensive and difficult to construct, and given that they have the potential to cause over-exploitation (Grossman et ai, 1997; Pickering and Whitmarsh, 1997) there is clearly no guarantee that their economic effects will be positive. What, then, is required in order to establish whether an artificial reef proposal constitutes a‘good investment’ from a social perspective?

Legal Framework Governing Artificial Reefs in the European Union

There are numerous legal questions associated with artificial reefs, relating to their location, construction, operation and decommissioning. Unlike other disciplines where the state of knowledge is the result of specific research, law exists and applies irrespective of any explicit mention or consideration of artificial reefs or their requirements in its provisions.

A new era for the offshore oil and gas industry on the UKCS

This paper explores the development of the offshore oil and gas industry on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) and particularly the role played by science and technology in that development. An historical perspective is taken in the first instance to place recent developments in context, before exploring the role of science and technology in the 1990s. Three areas of key importance form the basis of the discussion: the maintenance of production from the traditional provinces, the development of new provinces and the mitigation of environmental impacts. The paper demonstrates the crucial role that science and technology plays in each of these areas.

The role of corporations in the management of the marine environment

Abstract Despite a significant body of well-founded legislation oil pollution incidents still occur. There are a number of reasons for this less than perfect environmental performance. The principal factor in their resolution is, however, the explicit recognition of the role of corporate organizational behaviour in determining the quality of the marine environment. Environmental management does not end with government legislation and its policy derivatives but must be implemented offshore. Numerous commercial entities are implicitly tasked with implementing environmental management at the operational level. The hydrocarbon industry on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf is utilized to illustrate the various facets of corporate environmental scanning, communication and decision-taking which feature in their environmental performance.