Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Aquatic food security relies on balancing the continual need for aquatic food provisioning and
ecosystem services alongside the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem health. This
independent project aimed to establish whether the addition of coastal artificial reefs to an
urban harbour area in Helsingborg had the potential to improve biodiversity, food provisioning
and ecosystem services. Three sites were analysed: a stone reef, a living seawall and a floating
mussel colony platform. All three sites were filmed in early April 2024 using a waterproof
GoPro camera and samples of both macroalgae and blue mussels were collected for further
analysis. Additionally, a survey was made available for one month; this aimed to ascertain how
local residents and workers felt about the installation of these artificial reef structures. The
artificial reefs were shown to support biodiversity via the provision of habitat for mobile
species and attachment points for sessile fauna and flora. Both the stone reef and living seawall
had greater species richness and a denser coverage of vegetation than was recorded during a
similar inventory in April 2023 (Looström et al. 2023). Mussel size was affected by sampling
depth, site and age but less so by type of hard substrate. The survey results showed that the
citizens of Helsingborg appreciate the presence of the artificial reefs and placed the highest
value on the potential benefits to food security over both ecosystem services and biodiversity.
Overall, the data supports the hypotheses that artificial reefs can help to improve biodiversity,
aquatic food security and ecosystem services, even within urban environments.