The REFAS project will install Reef Cubes® on a large-scale to accelerate reef creation underneath aquaculture sites and enhance multitrophic aquaculture & fishery opportunities, ensuring all stakeholders benefit from a growing blue economy.
£249,940
TBC
REFAS 2 was an exploration of reef enhancement alongside shellfish farming. This project allowed ARC Marine to develop an efficient biodiversity monitoring program that has shown exciting results for their eco-engineering technology – Reef Cubes®. We have developed survey methods using Remote Operated Vehicles and other advanced techniques to survey near a purpose-built reef in Torbay, Devon.
For REFAS2, 60 tonnes of Reef Cubes® were manufactured, with a surface area of 290m2, deployed and monitored from Spring 2021–Spring 2022 with fishing, ROV and environmental DNA surveys conducted before and after deployment. An aim of the project was to increase the abundance of commercial fish and shellfish in the area available for the wild fishers, increasing the biodiversity of the region to combat the ongoing global biodiversity crisis.
The most significant finding was discovering a statistically significant difference when comparing the pre and post installation data, where a greater abundance of marine life had been observed at the reef sites after installation. Some species showed increases in abundance including multiple fish species. Before installation, almost no fish were observed and now there are dense multi-species shoals circulating the reef formations observed on nearly every survey. Species now witnessed include whiting, poor cod, pouting, bass, and catsharks. Squid were more common at the reef sites at night and cuttlefish during the day. Edible crab and lobster catches did not show any significant differences from before the reef to after, however, this could change as our surveying effort increases and the reef develops.
ARC Marine Ltd.