Evaluation of the Spatial Heterogeneity of the Pacific Oyster <i>Magallana gigas</i> (Thunberg, 1793) Cultivation Conditions Using the FARM Marifarm Management Model in Voevoda Bay

Abstract

In the present study, using the Farm Aquaculture Resource Management (FARM), farm aquaculture resource management model, we calculated the potential productivity of plantations of the oyster Magallana gigas (Thunberg, 1793) (Bivalvia: Ostreidae) in Voevoda Bay (Sea of Japan, Peter the Great Bay, Russkiy Island). When calculating the productivity of cage and bottom plantations of M. gigas, we used the previously obtained results of numerical modeling of bay’s dynamics of hydrological parameters using the open software Delft3D-Flow, taking into account the inflow of fresh water into the bay in 1990–2019. To demonstrate the heterogeneity of growing conditions for M. gigas, three sites 100 × 100 m in size were selected, located in Kruglaya and Melkovodnaya Bays, as well as in the central part of Voevoda Bay. For each plot, modeling of 28 growing periods, lasting 22 months each was performed. The maximum values of oyster yield for the se-cond year of cultivation, expressed in tons of total wet weight, were selected, and distribution histograms for each area were presented. It was shown that, according to hydrological and biological indicators, the growing conditions even in small Voevoda bay are heterogeneous. It has been established that the variability in the productivity of M. gigas is associated mainly with the extreme uneven redistribution of primary production in Voevoda bay under the influence of hydrodynamic factors.