Artificial reefs - definition, history and status in India: World fisheries today face threats from several quarters, including non-judicious fishing practices influenced by irrational growth in demand, destruction of aquatic habitats through pollution and destructive fishing methods, rupture of trophic food webs by increased exploitation of particular fishery resources, increased incidences of natural disasters and the impacts of climate change. With increasing concern over global marine fish production, and the scenario being not very different in India, there is an urgent need to evolve resource-, area-, and habitat-specific management tools to revive, sustain or improve Indian marine fisheries and marine ecosystems. The immediate and primary objective of a management strategy would ideally look towards enhancing fish catches