Abstract Recreational boating is increasingly popular and provides social and economic benefits, but can also have ecological impacts, including damage from anchoring on sensitive seabed habitats like coral reefs. Mooring buoys are commonly used to manage anchoring activity, and I tested whether they moderated anchoring on coral reefs in the British Virgin Islands. A spatial survey revealed that overall boat use (moored plus anchored) was 3.6 times higher at sites with moorings than those without. The density of boats anchored on coral reef was, however, reduced by roughly half at sites with moorings. A survey of two sites before and after moorings were installed confirmed that the addition of moorings increased the total number of boats at a site, but reduced the rate of anchoring on reef. At any given site, the rate of anchoring on reef increased as the total number of boats present increased, but the effect of crowding was diminished at sites with moorings. Moorings can thus be an effective management tool for mitigating anchor damage to sensitive habitats, and because boat densities continue to rise worldwide, these findings focus attention on discovering why moorings reduce the tendency of boats to anchor on reef as sites become more crowded.

中文翻译：

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船舶系泊对珊瑚礁锚泊和潜在锚损的影响

摘要 休闲划船越来越受欢迎并提供社会和经济效益，但也可能产生生态影响，包括锚定在珊瑚礁等敏感海底栖息地造成的破坏。系泊浮标通常用于管理锚定活动，我测试了它们是否在英属维尔京群岛的珊瑚礁上调节锚定。一项空间调查显示，在有系泊设施的地点，船只的总体使用量（系泊加锚泊）是没有系泊设施的地点的 3.6 倍。然而，停泊在珊瑚礁上的船只密度在有系泊设施的地方减少了大约一半。对安装系泊设备前后两个地点的调查证实，增加系泊设备增加了一个地点的船只总数，但降低了在礁石上的锚泊率。在任何给定的站点，随着船只总数的增加，在珊瑚礁上的锚泊率也随之增加，但在有系泊设施的地点，拥挤的影响会减弱。因此，系泊系统可以成为减轻锚对敏感栖息地的损害的有效管理工具，并且由于船舶密度在全球范围内持续上升，这些发现集中关注发现为什么随着地点变得更加拥挤，系泊系统会降低船只在礁石上锚泊的趋势。