Quantification of Boat Visitation Rates at Artificial and Natural Reefs in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Using Acoustic Recorders

Peter Simard; Kara R Wall; David A Mann; Carrie C Wall; Christopher D Stallings

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0160695

Quantification of Boat Visitation Rates at Artificial and Natural Reefs in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Using Acoustic Recorders

PLoS One. 2016 Aug 8;11(8):e0160695. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160695. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Peter Simard¹, Kara R Wall¹, David A Mann², Carrie C Wall³, Christopher D Stallings¹

Affiliations

¹ University of South Florida, College of Marine Science, St. Petersburg, Florida, United States of America.
² Loggerhead Instruments, Sarasota, Florida, United States of America.
³ University of Colorado, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America.

Abstract

Artificial reefs are commonly used as a management tool, in part to provide ecosystem services, including opportunities for recreational fishing and diving. Quantifying the use of artificial reefs by recreational boaters is essential for determining their value as ecosystem services. In this study, four artificial-natural reef pairs in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (off western Florida) were investigated for boat visitation rates using autonomous acoustic recorders. Digital SpectroGram (DSG) recorders were used to collect sound files from April 2013 to March 2015. An automatic detection algorithm was used to identify boat noise in individual files using the harmonic peaks generated by boat engines, and by comparing the sound amplitude of each file with surrounding files. In all four pairs, visitation rates were significantly higher at the artificial reef than the natural reef. This increase in boat visitation was likely due to actual or perceived increased quality of fishing and diving at the artificial reefs, or to lack of knowledge of the presence or locations of the natural reefs. Inshore reefs (<15 m depth) had high variability in monthly visitation rates, which were generally highest in warmer months. However the seasonal signal was dampened on offshore reefs (>25 m depth). This study appears to be the first to use acoustic data to measure participant use of boating destinations, and highlights the utility of acoustic monitoring for the valuation of this important ecosystem service provided by artificial reefs.

MeSH terms

Acoustics / instrumentation*
Coral Reefs*
Ecosystem*
Environmental Monitoring*
Gulf of Mexico
Population Dynamics
Ships / statistics & numerical data*

Grants and funding

Funding was provided to authors CS and PS by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Artificial Reef Program using state saltwater fishing license revenues (FWC 183 Agreement No. FWC-184 12164). The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. DM is president of Loggerhead Instruments, which manufactures for commercial sale the acoustic recorders used in this study. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Loggerhead Instruments did not provide any funding for this work, and had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.