Abstract
AEI Aquaculture Environment Interactions Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections AEI 9:127-143 (2017) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00218 Vertical particle fluxes dominate integrated multi‑trophic aquaculture (IMTA) sites: implications for shellfish-finfish synergy R. Filgueira1,*, T. Guyondet2, G. K. Reid3,4, J. Grant5, P. J. Cranford6 1Marine Affairs Program, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford St., PO Box 15000, Halifax, NS B3H 1R2, Canada 2Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Gulf Fisheries Centre, Science Branch, PO Box 5030, Moncton, NB E1C 9B6, Canada 3Canadian Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture Network (CIMTAN), University of New Brunswick, PO Box 5050, Saint John, NB E2L 4L5, Canada 4Department of Fisheries and Oceans, St. Andrews Biological Station, 531 Brandy Cove Rd., St. Andrews, NB E5B 2L9, Canada 5Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada 6Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, 1 Challenger Dr., Dartmouth, NS B2Y 4A2, Canada *Corresponding author: ramon.filgueira@dal.ca ABSTRACT: Maximizing the mitigation potential of open-water finfish-shellfish integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) farms is complex in terms of co-locating the trophic components. Both the dispersal of finfish aquaculture wastes and biological processes are highly influenced by water circulation. Consequently, the evaluation of shellfish-finfish synergy requires a combined study of biological and physical processes, which can be achieved by the implementation and coupling of mathematical models. A highly configurable mathematical model was developed that can be applied at the apparent spatial scale of IMTA sites. The model tracks different components of the seston, including feed wastes, fish faeces, shellfish faeces, natural detritus and phytoplankton. Based on the characterization of these fluxes, a hypothetical IMTA site was used to explore different spatial arrangements for evaluating finfish-shellfish farm mitigation efficiency. The site was modelled following a factorial design, which tested 2 levels of background seston concentrations, 3 farm designs, 2 hydrodynamic conditions and 2 levels of aquaculture intensity. The model predicts that mitigation efficiency is highly dependent on the background environmental conditions, obtaining maximum mitigation under oligotrophic conditions that stimulate shellfish filtration activity. The dominance of vertical fluxes of particulate matter triggered by the high settling velocity of finfish aquaculture wastes suggests that suspended shellfish aquaculture cannot significantly reduce organic loading of the seabed. Consequently, this suggests that waste mitigation at IMTA sites should be best achieved by placing organic extractive species (e.g. deposit feeders) on the seabed directly beneath finfish cages rather than in suspension in the water column. KEY WORDS: Settling velocity · Organic loading · Mitigation · Connectivity · Ecosystem model Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Filgueira R, Guyondet T, Reid GK, Grant J, Cranford PJ (2017) Vertical particle fluxes dominate integrated multi‑trophic aquaculture (IMTA) sites: implications for shellfish-finfish synergy. Aquacult Environ Interact 9:127-143. https://doi.org/10.3354/aei00218 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in AEI Vol. 9. Online publication date: March 14, 2017 Print ISSN: 1869-215X; Online ISSN: 1869-7534 Copyright © 2017 Inter-Research.
Highlights
The projection of human population growth (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division 2013) and the increasing demandAquacult Environ Interact 9: 127–143, 2017 probably dominate European and North American expansion, physical limits on total production will most likely determine the fate of this expansion in Asia, where maximizing the food supply is the paramount concern (Ferreira et al 2013)
The modelling exercises performed in this study focussed on exploring the maximum mitigation efficiency of mussel−finfish integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) sites, with focus on the solid wastes that potentially cause organic loading
These simulations were performed under ideal conditions that maximize the connectivity between finfish and shellfish cultured areas, e.g. ideal current directionality, and it is expected that the mitigation efficiency estimations are maxima
Summary
The capacity of an IMTA site to utilize wastes depends on: (1) the capacity of the extractive species to capture wastes, which is a function of its physiology, the amount of available wastes and the environmental conditions at the farm; and (2) the connectivity among the different components of the farm. Given that bivalves are widely distributed, can be cultured at high densities and can severely deplete suspended particulate matter at the ecosystem scale, they are ideal candidates to be used as waste biofilters (Cranford et al 2013) Despite this theoretically good fit between finfish and mussels in the context of IMTA farming, literature data reveal contradictory results. Natural environmental variability makes it difficult to define 2 identical sites that do not influence one another such that one of them could be used as a reference for comparison purposes (e.g. Brager et al 2015)
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