Restoration Objective:
The objective of this study is to monitor and compare the brown seaweed, especially the Sargassum species distribution and coverage multi-temporally at three points, as well as to investigate their succession over the observation times (years 1 and 3) on the artificial reef constructed in Wakasa Bay, Japan, and to compare them to the natural reef.
Site Selection Criteria:
The artificial reefs were constructed in Wakasa Bay (Fig. 1). This bay is located in the Japan Sea at Honshu Island between the Cape Echizen at the east and the Cape Kyoga at the west. The artificial reef was installed to west of the fishing port in the southern part of the bay near the natural reef. Table 1 provides the coordinates (latitude/longitude) at each survey site. The distance between the artificial and natural reefs is ~ 10 m. The water depth of the artificial reef is ~ 3–7 m, and the bottom sediment is sand. The water depth of the natural reef is ~ 2–6 m, and the bottom sediment is pelitic mixed-rock gravel (Nakae et al. 2002).
Cause Of Decline:
Unfortunately, 6,400 ha of seagrass and seaweed beds have been lost along Japan's coast, of which Sargassum beds accounted for 22% from 1978 to 1991 due to the increase in coastal land ll sites at ports (Terawaki et al. 2003).
