Review Artiﬁcial reefs and reef restoration in the Laurentian Great Lakes Mathew McLean 1 , Edward F. Roseman ⁎, Jeremy J. Pritt, Gregory Kennedy, Bruce A. Manny USGS Great Lakes Science Center, 1451 Green Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA abstract article info Article history: Received 27 May 2014 Accepted 30 October 2014 Available online xxxx Communicated by Tom Stewart Index words: Artiﬁcial reefs Habitat Restoration Monitoring Spawning We reviewed the published literature to provide an inventory of Laurentian Great Lakes artiﬁcial reef projects and their purposes. We also sought to characterize physical and biological monitoring for artiﬁcial reef projects in the Great Lakes and determine the success of artiﬁcial reefs in meeting project objectives. We found records of 6 ar- tiﬁcial reefs in Lake Erie, 8 in Lake Michigan, 3 in Lakes Huron and Ontario, and 2 in Lake Superior. We found 9 reefs in Great Lakes connecting channels and 6 reefs in Great Lakes tributaries. Objectives of artiﬁcial reef creation have included reducing impacts of currents and waves, providing safe harbors, improving sport-ﬁshing opportu- nities, and enhancing/restoring ﬁsh spawning habitats. Most reefs in the lakes themselves were incidental (not created purposely for ﬁsh habitat) or built to improve local sport ﬁshing, whereas reefs in tributaries and connecting channels were more frequently built to beneﬁt ﬁsh spawning. Levels of assessment of reef perfor- mance varied; but long-term monitoring was uncommon as was assessment of physical attributes. Artiﬁcial reefs were often successful at attracting recreational species and spawning ﬁsh; however, population-level ben- eﬁts of artiﬁcial reefs are unclear. Stressors such as sedimentation and bio-fouling can limit the effectiveness of artiﬁcial reefs as spawning enhancement tools. Our investigation underscores the need to develop standard pro- tocols for monitoring the biological and physical attributes of artiﬁcial structures. Further, long-term monitoring is needed to assess the beneﬁts of artiﬁcial reefs to ﬁsh populations and inform future artiﬁcial reef projects. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of International Association for Great Lakes Research. Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Review of artiﬁcial reef projects in the Great Lakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Purpose and design of artiﬁcial reefs in the Great Lakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Biological monitoring of reef projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Physical monitoring of artiﬁcial reef projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Success of artiﬁcial reefs in the Great Lakes in attracting ﬁsh and increasing ﬁsh spawning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Stressors and degradation of artiﬁcial reefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Limitations of artiﬁcial reef monitoring projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 Introduction Habitat degradation is a global source of imperilment of ﬁshes (e.g., Jelks et al., 2008; Munday, 2004; Powels et al., 2000), and restoration of physical habitat is often used to mitigate losses and degradation of natural habitat (Bassett, 1994; Palmer et al., 2005). In large aquatic sys- tems such as the Laurentian Great Lakes, artiﬁcial reefs are often created to provide spawning and nursery habitat to benthic-spawning ﬁshes (e.g., Fitzsimons, 1996; Gannon, 1990; NOAA, 2007). Artiﬁcial reefs have been used as a ﬁshery management tool for over 40 years in the Lauren- tian Great Lakes and have often been championed as a successful means for improving recreational ﬁsheries (Kelch, 2012). However, unequivocal evidence of improved ﬁsheries resulting from habitat restoration projects is often lacking (Hughes et al., 2014; Jähnig et al., 2011; Whiteway et al., 2010). We conducted a literature review of Great Lakes reef projects to Journal of Great Lakes Research xxx (2014) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: mattmclean12@gmail.com (M. McLean), eroseman@usgs.gov (E.F. Roseman). 1 Current address: 621 North 10th Street, Plainwell, MI 49080. JGLR-00816; No. of pages: 8; 4C: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2014.11.021 0380-1330/Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of International Association for Great Lakes Research. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Great Lakes Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jglr Please cite this article as: McLean, M., et al., Artiﬁcial reefs and reef restoration in the Laurentian Great Lakes, J Great Lakes Res (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2014.11.021