The Balochistan government built the first artificial reef in Gwadar Bay near Jiwani for 48.50 million rupees when WWF-Pakistan praised the initiative on Monday.
This initiative aims to help protect marine biodiversity and improve the socio-economic conditions of the coastal communities in the region. The artificial reef along the coast of Balochistan contains 330 module blocks, each weighing 1.5 tons.
The artificial reef is primarily an underwater structure built to promote marine life in areas with a low sea floor. Gwadar Bay is located between the Pakistani-Iranian border and is known for its rich marine biodiversity and important fishing grounds.
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This artificial structure mimics some of the functions of a natural reef, providing shelter, food and other necessary elements for marine biodiversity.
Natural reefs consist of rocks, sand, corals and other materials, while artificial reefs can consist of sunken ships, timber, rocks or other structures. Reefs are essential to marine health, provide habitat for a wide range of marine life and play an important role in the local economy.
The construction of the artificial reef will further increase productivity in the area and allow fishermen near Jiwani access to the fish population. The location of the modular concrete block provides shelter for a large number of benthic and mobile animals.
It is also home to a number of fish species. After submersion in seawater, the surface of the modular blocks is colonized with important marine animals such as corals, bird horns and mussels, which help form rich animal and plant communities in and around the artificial reef.
It will also be home to large predators that feed on the fauna of the artificial reef areas. Most predatory fish are commercially important species and although this process will improve the productivity and biodiversity of the area.
According to Ahmad Nadeem, Project Manager and Director of the Fisheries Department of the Government of Balochistan, this artificial reef has been created at a total cost of Rs 48.50 million.
He also said the government had not requested foreign aid for this initiative. The reef is located in an area of four square kilometers west of the city of Jiwani in Balochistan. "Given the successful use of blocks in the sea, the Balochistan government plans to build more artificial reefs along the coast of Balochistan," he added.
WWF-Pakistan, which was consulted on the planning, design and location of the artificial reef, sees this initiative as the beginning of a new era of biodiversity conservation that will help increase the production of commercially important seafood in Pakistani waters .
Muhammad Moazzam Khan, Fisheries Technical Adviser, WWF-Pakistan said this reef will help reduce poaching in Gwadar Bay as the reef will act as an exhaust device for trawlers (TED).
Unauthorized trawling is considered a major problem by fishermen in the coastal region of Balochistan. Gwadar Bay is known for its biodiversity as it offers a wide variety of habitats, including dense forests between Panwan and the Dasht River estuary.
It has a rich wildlife on rocky coastlines and is a natural habitat for Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and finless guinea pigs, he added.
