Government and private organizations in many regions invest heavily in artificial reefs as a method of enhancing fish populations for recreational fishermen. Though these reefs are known to aggregate fish in the short-term, the long-term maintenance of elevated fish abundance may be impaired as a result of succession to an unpalatable benthic community. We tested the hypothesis that providing a spatial refuge for benthic fauna would result in elevated fish abundances on artificial reefs. Sturdy mesh bags that excluded fish predators and created a growth and reproductive refuge for fouling organisms were placed into artificial reef materials at four replicate sites off the North Carolina coast. Reef sites were subsequently surveyed using two methods: diver fish counts and professional angler success. Anglers consistently demonstrated greater catch rates on reefs with refuge bags. Diver surveys after one year also showed that total abundance of fish as well as abundance of several species was greater on experimental sites. These results indicate that including prey refuges in artificial reefs can increase fish populations and angler success. Such experimental manipulation of epibenthic prey also supports the role of productivity in controlling artificial reef fish assemblages.

许多地区的政府和私人组织都在人工鱼礁上进行了大量投资，以此作为增加休闲渔民鱼类种群的一种方法。尽管已知这些礁石会在短期内聚集鱼类，但由于接替了不宜食用的底栖生物群落，长期维持较高的鱼类丰度可能会受到损害。我们检验了以下假设：为底栖动物提供空间避难所会导致人工鱼礁上的鱼类丰度提高。在北卡罗来纳州沿岸的四个复制地点，将坚固的网眼袋（排除鱼类捕食者并为结垢生物创造了生长和繁殖的避难所）放入人工鱼礁材料中。随后使用两种方法对珊瑚礁地点进行了调查：潜水员鱼类计数和专业钓鱼者成功与否。钓鱼者始终显示出使用避难袋在珊瑚礁上的捕获率更高。一年后的潜水员调查还显示，在实验点上鱼的总丰度以及几种鱼类的丰度更高。这些结果表明在人工鱼礁中包括避难所可以增加鱼类种群并增加钓鱼者的成功率。这种对表皮捕食者的实验操作还支持了生产力在控制人工礁鱼组合中的作用。