Germany: Artificial reefs to help boost Baltic fisheries

Artificial reefs to help boost Baltic fisheries. Much to the fishers’ dismay, cod populations in the Baltic Sea have been decreasing since the 1990s. The reasons are many, including habitat degradation. The same decade also saw the start of a potential solution to habitat loss. It was then that the German Research Institute for Agriculture and Fisheries of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (the Landesforschungsanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Fischerei Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, or LFA) launched a study looking into the technical feasibility of artificial reefs and their potential benefits for local fisheries. The results were promising. Today, there are two artificial reefs that were built thanks to EU funding. Artificial reefs improve the Baltic ecosystem The main objective of the reef project was to establish the feasibility of artificial reefs as attractive fishing areas. Thanks to EU funding, two artificial reefs were built in the Baltic Sea, at Nienhagen (4 ha in area, 1.5 km off ...