IENE 2016

In an intact marine onshore habitat, more than 90% of post-larval fish settlers will naturally die within the first week of their return, but without adequate natural habitats, the survival rate can decline to zero! Unfortunately for young recruits, shoreline modifications such as harbors, bulkheads and piers, are increasingly prevalent, directly affecting their essential habitats. Mitigation for the impacts occurring during this lifecycle stage is crucial to restore the connectivity and life cycles of aquatic populations.

Various types of innovative solutions have been introduced to harbor areas as a substitute for the role played by rocky sea bottoms and shorelines in protecting wild post-larval and young-of-the-year marine fish. 1-Biohut® solution work by providing the opportunity to hide and feed in a system creating a predator-free habitat with adapted food. 2-Biorestore® solution work by capturing wild post-larvae, rear them in an inland wetlab and then repopulate growth juveniles into adapted habitats outside the harbor.

From 2013 to 2015, a large scale deployment of those technique was implemented within the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille. The talk highlights the importance of protecting and restoring shoreline habitats and will presents the very strong results of the project as well as the on-coming other harbor mitigation projects in France.