Fish Standing Stock at the Artificial Reefs ofPulau ... - seafdec.org.my

eefs supply the environment with food source from the decaying wooden structure andobservations show that this type of artificial reefs were abundant with encrustation such astunicates, oysters and other organisms.Eventhough the boat reef site was located quite a distancefrom the natural reefs, the number of fish species was quite high. The concrete reefs should bedesigned with more refuge niches and constructed with a number oflarge and small roaming andhiding areas.Fish and crustaceans were observed to prefer overhangs under huge boulder coralsfor their refuge area. This show that one of the best designs for fish and crustacean is a layeredformation with low lighting and high roaming area.1) The artificial reefs programme can be considered successful in increasing the concentration offish around the artificial reefs2) Groupers are the best target fish species for artificial reefs programme and can be used as thespecies for sea ranching at artificial reefs.3) Groupers breeding cycles should be studied so that the basic life cycles of the species can beunderstand.The author would like to express his thanks to Ministry of Science for the research funding (IRPA), TheGeneral Director of Fisheries, The Director of Research, YusriYusuf(USM), the Pulau Payar MarinePark Rangers and others who help. Also thanks to Ms. Shahuntala Devi forreviewing the paper.Abdul-Razak, L. and Ismail, 1. 1992. An analysis of the efficacy of three artificial reef designs atPulau Lembu, Kedah. Proceedings of Fisheries Seminar, Department of Fisheries Malaysia.Allen, G. 1997. Marine Fishes of South-East Asia.. . -Perth, Western Australia.Western Australian Museum, Francis Street,Bohnsack, l.A., D.E. Harper, D. B., McClellan and M. Hulsbeck. 1994. Effects of Reef size oncolonisation and assemblage structure of fishes at artificial reefs off southeastern Florida,U.S.A. Bulletin of Marine Science Vol. 55, No 2 & 3: 796-823.Bullock, L.H., and G.B., Smith. 1991. Seabasses (Pisces: Serranidae). Florida Mar. Res. Inst.(partII) vol. VIII, 243 p.Grove, R.S. and C.J., Sonu. 1991. Artificial Habitat Technology in The World- Today andTomorrow. In. Nakamura, M., R.S. Grove and C.J. Sonu (eds). RecentAdvances in AquaticHabitat Technology, page 3-9, Southern Calif. Edison 16. Environmental Research, ReportSeries 91-RD-19.Latun, A.R. and EH. Wong. 1988.Kedah- A preliminary report.Fisheries Malaysia: 208-215.Ecological monitoring of the concrete reef at Pulau Payar,Proceedings of the First Fisheries Seminar, Department of