Marine Life and Coastal Restoration by Utilizing Steel Slag to Create Sea Forest on Sandy Coast of Southwest Taiwan

The first Taiwanese in-situ experiment is on trial to develop artificial reefs for marine production in the coastal area of southwestern Taiwan. In this study, we deployed several carbonated BOF slag of reefs in a sandy bed of Fangshan coast. Based on the result of the diving investigation, the benthic sediment consists of sand. The analysis of the 12 times sampling collections indicated that there were 60 families of epibenthic organisms inhabited at Fengkan coast. Nereididae was the maximum quantity of specimen, the minor one was Gammaridea. Nereididae, Portunidae and Trochidae has been captured in almost every investigation. In comparison with artificial reef and non-reef areas has found that many fish near the reef area. On the contrary, there are few fish near non-reef area. There are 23 species of fish had been witnessed at study sites around reefs by visual diver observations. In conclusion, the carbonated BOF slag was suitable for the attachment growth of coral reefs and Fishgathering. The successful development of marine brick composed of carbonated BOF slag could potentially offer great benefits in promoting artificial reefs function, and play an important role in marine ecosystems.