Abstract
The Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve is working with partners from the United States Geological Survey and Mississippi State University to comprehensively monitor constructed reefs in the Grand Bay Estuary. Reef construction, scheduled to occur in fall of 2020, is funded by the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Phase IV Early Restoration Project: Restoring Living Shorelines and Reefs in Mississippi Estuaries. The portion of the project slated for Grand Bay includes construction of 6.5 acres of subtidal reefs in Point Aux Chenes Bay and 3 acres of intertidal reefs in Bangs Bayou. The objectives of this project include reductions in shoreline erosion and increases in secondary productivity. Pre-construction monitoring of wave energy, shoreline erosion, vegetation communities, and sediment accretion on the marsh platform began in 2018. Monitoring of fish communities, which includes two functional groups of fish, began with gill netting in 2019 and also utilizes Breder trap deployments (began in 2020). Additional monitoring of epifaunal communities is scheduled to occur in early fall of 2020. Data from these monitoring efforts, and subsequent post-construction monitoring will be compared with data collected after the reefs are constructed in a before-after-control-impact design (BACI). This effort will be critical in guiding future reef emplacement in the Grand Bay estuary and is expected to demonstrate the ability of constructed reefs to provide functional habitat and reduce wave energy, thereby increasing productivity and slowing marsh loss.
