Negative Impacts of Artificial Reefs
Artificial reefs are known as being very beneficial to the environment. When you think of an artificial reef you probably think of a flourishing ecosystem that has taken over a structure that has been designed to support life. This is a reasonable thought when thinking about artificial reefs but not super accurate. These reefs can change the ecosystem too much to the point that it has the opposite effect and either attracts too much attention or not enough due to the materials used. Although they are very beneficial to the environment, they can have negative effects if there is not enough thought behind where to place them and what materials will be used.
Artificial reefs are great for creating places for life to establish. Fish and coral can colonize on these structures to create big flourishing community. This can be a problem as this can attract tourism and will increase traffic that otherwise may not be there. This can cause more damage to the ecosystem than not having these reefs there as this can lead to a domino affect of human impacts on that ecosystem. In areas such as the Florida Keys, heavy visitation, particularly by novice or uniformed divers and snorkelers, can take a toll on coral reefs (Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, 2011). This is a good way to get people to interact with the environment and to hopefully get people to want to get involved but causes the opposite effect from what is desired from these reefs. You create something to boost the ecosystem just to open it to the public that will destroy or at least cause unnecessary stress to the ecosystem. In some instances, however, the negative ecological impacts of artificial reefs may outweigh potential economic gain (Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, 2011). If we really want these reefs to help, we need to leave them be. This does not mean that its entirely bad to have tourism around these reefs if there are procedures set in place. It can be good to have people interact with reefs to get them to care more about these essential ecosystems through experience. Having a few places dedicated to education of the public can be very beneficial for these reasons and can boost support for the cause. This only works if most reefs are left alone for maximum benefits of these structures for the environment. People can also pollute the water column which also creates several issues.
Artificial Reefs are only effective if made from a nontoxic medium. Tires have been used in some places and worked for a short time, but eventually leach too many toxins and have the opposite effect. Tires were used as a solution to two problems as there was an abundance of old tires and at the time seemed like a good medium for coral to grow on. Waste automobile and truck tires were placed offshore of Broward County, Florida and there were an estimated number between 1,000,000-2,000,000 tires deployed (Sherman, 2006). That is a lot of tires which come with a lot of pollution. Tires can leach a lot of toxins over time, and this can be detrimental to marine life when this many tires have been dumped. Many efforts have been made to remove these tires from the environment but there are so many that it is not an easy task. This will take many more years to clean up and is a good example of why picking a good medium and doing enough research prior is essential as it’s hard to reverse the effects after its done and placed. The ethics of this can be controversial yet important as we decide what is right and what actions should and should not be taken.
As much as some people might not like to talk about ethics, it’s a very important thing to delve into and it is something we delve into on a regular basis whether we realize it or not. Some people say that the land itself has rights, in some form, and should be protected more than it is currently. In this case Artificial reefs, although man made, should be protected and given some sort of rights in the form of laws for conservation. In a paper written by Aldo Leopold he says, “the landrelation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations” (Leopold, 2008, page 203). What he is saying is that conservation is currently based on the current economic benefits over the long-term environmental benefits. This can be a huge issue as we almost ignore the long-term effects and focus on the instant results. The dumping of tires in the bay is a great example as they saw a quick way to dispose of the tires for cheap while still pleasing the community but ignoring the long term effects it would have. Ethics are possibly a type of community instinct in-the-making (Leopold, 2008, page 203). Without community effort there would be no change and ethics would mean nothing. It takes a strong and knowledgeable community to make real and long term beneficial change. In the case of the tire incident, the community realized the harm the tires were doing by becoming knowledge of the incident and got together to make a change to dive and remove the tires. Same results can be seen in the oceans today as whole country’s come together to remove plastics. How does this have to do with how artificial reefs have negative affects?
If we cannot come together as a community and find a middle ground, we will eventually do more harm than good when installing reefs. The reefs themselves are not the problem, rather how we go about treating them and taking advantage. Being knowledgeable of these reefs and the damage we can do if we don’t know the risks can make a huge difference in the success as a whole for the Artificial Reef ecological community. Allowing most of the reefs to be left alone, apart from scientists being able to periodically monitor them to ensure their success, would be the best course of action as it allows them to flourish without interruption. Although, it is also important that people be exposed to these environments to see firsthand the effects of humans on reefs to make people feel that they can make a real change in making conservation efforts. Without this interaction and exposure to these climates will eventually make people feel separated from the problem causing people to not feel like they are obligated to make any change.
When talking about what the perfect mix of society and environment, there is a lot of grey area. The problem is that neither [the terms natural and unnatural] meaning allows us to distinguish between those human actions that “violate” nature and those that are in some way in “harmony” with it: either we violate it all the time or violations of it are logically impossible (Vogel, 2002, page 27 paragraph 1). The terms natural and unnatural are very vague and are not a good way to determine whether something is “right” or “wrong”. Being in “harmony with nature is important but is not as simple as people may think. This depends on a lot of different social and nature variables. This is another reason why only a few reefs having open to tourism can be a good way to separate society and nature enough to where both can thrive. In this case, “harmony” may require we separate society in some way but not completely. If we completely separate society from nature we start going backwards and end up right where we started. We need enough exposure to feel like we are a part of the problem and that we will also be effected but not to much that we destroy that habitat for economic benefit.
Although they are very beneficial to the environment, they can have negative effects if there is not enough thought behind where to place them and what materials will be used. If we don’t think ahead there can be negative impacts on the environment and eventually society. What materials we use as well as where we place them, which includes who has access to them, are crucial if we want to build reef environments that are as efficient as possible. Allowing access to a few reefs for tourism can help economies that rely on them as well as still allowing people to visit and learn how these reefs can be impacted by people and how precious they really are. Although the artificial reefs themselves are not negative the impact they have can be negative regarding how society respects them. Since our economy as a whole thinks in terms of what is economically beneficial, at the moment, the effects it has on the environment usually go on the backburner. Having a healthy balance of society and nature is key the survival of both and requires action from society but also means that we have to allow these changes to work.
Works Cited
– Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. What Effects Do Artificial Reefs Have on the Natural Environment and the Economy?, 13 June 2011, floridakeys.noaa.gov/artificialreefs/effects.html.
– Leopold, A. (2008). The Land Ethic. na.
– Sherman, R. L., & Spieler, R. E. (2006). Tires: unstable materials for artificial reef construction. Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 88, 215-223.
– Vogel, S. (2002). Environmental philosophy after the end of nature. Environmental Ethics, 24(1), 23-39.