Artificial Reef Program

Biological Monitoring Update

Texas Parks and Wildlife DepartmentCoastal Fisheries - Artificial Reef Program Brooke Shipley, Ph.D.

Artificial Reef Program Over 4800 Acres

76 Established Reef Sites, 9 pending permit

approval

149 Platform & 12 Component Donations

30 Platform Donations in Progress

Rigs-to-Reefs Program Has Contributed $25.2

Million to Texas Artificial Reef Fund

Other Donations22 Vessels

Fabricated Materials

700 Quarry Rocks

TPWD Biological Monitoring

• 1993 – present

• Swimming Diver Surveys

• REEF protocol

• 2012 - present

• Deep dives

(decompression)

• Lionfish removal

• Water quality monitoring

• 2013 – present

• Size estimation of fish

• Vertical long lines

University and USGS Biological Monitoring

UT – Rio Grande Valley• (2007 – present)

• Diving surveys, biofouling, intermediate disturbance

hypothesis, economic impact study

TAMU – Corpus Christi • (2011 – present)

• Diving surveys, tagging surveys, vertical longline, remote

operated vehicle surveys

• Scuba diving socio-economic impact study

TAMU – Galveston • (2011 – present)

• Vancouver archeological survey

• Bottom surveys and bathymetry,

• Vertical longline, ARIS and acoustic surveys

TAMU – College Station• (2013-2014)

• Socioeconomic survey to anglers and boaters

USGS • (2013-present)

• Offshore water quality survey

• Nearshore AUV, water quality, substrate survey

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Rela

tive F

req

uen

cy

2013 - 2015

Red Snapper Age Composition

Utilizing Parallel Lasers

Vertical Line Methodology– Three differing hook sizes

fished per replicate.

– Three replicates per site

Vertical Line CPUE - all Species

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0.2500

CP

UE

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2012

2013

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2015

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2012 2013 2014 2015

CP

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Red Snapper Vertical Line CPUE

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2012 2013 2014 2015

CP

UE

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8/0

11/0

15/0

Red Snapper CPUE Between

Hook Sizes

Red Snapper CPUE Between

Structure Types

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Bare Natural Culverts Reef Ball Pyramids Ship Cutoff Standing Topple Deck

CP

UE

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s / #

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ion

s)

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2012 2013 2014 2015

CP

UE

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Cutoff

Standing

Topple

Red Snapper CPUE Between

Platform Structures

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Re

lati

ve

Fre

qu

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cy

2012 - 2015

Red Snapper Age Composition

Utilizing Vertical Lines

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Red Snapper Age Composition

Between Lasers and Vertical Lines

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Vertical Line

Lasers

Red Snapper Age Trends - NOAA

NOAA

SCUBA Roving Diver Surveys

• SCUBA = 5 minute roving diver surveys on the top

of the structure; categorical data

• Sighting frequencies (% SF) calculated for each

species for all surveys.

– Rare = < 20%

– Common = 20-70%

– Frequent = > 70 %

% SightFrequency

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Cubera Snapper

Yellowtail Snapper

Lane Snapper

Vermilion Snapper

Red Snapper

Gray Snapper

Lutjanidae

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Greater Amberjack

Blue Runner

Almaco Jack

Crevalle Jack

Horse-eye Jack

Rainbow Runner

Lookdown

Bar Jack

Yellow Jack

African Pompano

Black Jack

Permit

Carangidae

% SF for species of

recreational/commercial importance

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Gray Triggerfish

Vermilion Snapper

Red Snapper

Greater Amberjack

Gray Snapper

0

1

2

3

4

1995 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Abundant

Many

Few

Single

Red Snapper Diver Survey

Categorical Abundance

0

1

2

3

4

Reef Ball Culverts Ship Cutoff Topple Standing Deck

Red Snapper Diver Survey

Structure Abundance

Abundant

Many

Few

Single

0

1

2

3

4

BA GA HI MI MU PN PS

Red Snapper Diver Survey

Regional Abundance

Abundant

Many

Few

Single

1995

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Deck

Standing

Topple

Cutoff

Ship

Reef Ball

Culverts

0

10

20

Red Snapper Abundance

Shade Plot

Non-metric MDSTransform: Square root

Resemblance: S17 Bray-Curtis similarity

SIMPROF

Culverts

Cutoff

Deck

Reef Ball

Ship

Standing Topple

2D Stress: 0

Reef Material as

Red Snapper Habitat

Future Directions of

Biological Monitoring

• Water quality correlations to red snapper

abundance

• Comparisons between university sampling

and TPWD

• Genetics sampling and familial comparison

• Variations of abundance by depth and

location

• Material specific comparisons including

volume of material to abundance

A B C

Habitat types:

A – Natural hard bottom reef

B – Standing Oil and Gas Platform

C – Reefed Oil and Gas Platform

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CP

UE

(#fi

sh

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tes / #

gan

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)

2012

2013

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2015

Vertical Line CPUE - all Species

Relative Abundance

ANOVA; p = 0.371

n = 49 n = 41 n = 48

Length FrequencyStanding

n = 397

Artificial

n = 516

Natural

n = 431

=

≠ ≠

K-S Test; p < 0.001

Mean Age

ANOVA; p < 0.001

n = 679

Range = 2-30 yrs*

Mean Age vs. Depth of Capturer = 0.79

p < 0.001