Marine finfish and suspended shellfish aquaculture : water quality interactions and the potential for integrated aquaculture

• Main Author: Cross, Stephen F.
• Other Authors: School of Natural Sciences, Aquaculture
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Stirling 2005
• Subjects: Shellfish culture; Integrated agricultural systems; Pacific; Atlantic salmon; Crassostrea gigas; Pacific oyster
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/1861; http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/1861/4/Marine%20Finfish%20and%20Suspended%20Shellfish%20Aquaculture%20by%20Stephen%20Cross%20%282005%29.pdf

The objective of this study was to quantitatively document the culture performance and tissue quality of commercially important deepwater shellfish species (i. e., Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas; and Japanese scallop, Patinopecten yessoensis) cultured adjacent to marine finfish aquaculture operations, and to determine (from a production viability and seafood safety perspective) whether integrated finfish-shellfish Multi- Trophic Aquaculture (MTA), or polyculture, is a viable option for the aquaculture industry of temperate regions. Two study sites were employed for this research, one comprising an Atlantic salmon production facility and the other a Pacific salmonf arm. A 2-year assessment program for these sites detailed: (i) oceanographic and physiographicc haracteristics;( ii) organic waste flux, composition and dispersion; (iii) shellfish uptake and contaminant persistence; and (iv) shellfish culture performance. Organic waste flux ranged from 17.11 g/m2/day to 18.35 g/m2/day at the study sites. Phosphorus, calcium, carbon, zinc, cadmium, and strontium were waste constituents that were found at elevated levels at the farm sites with significant declines in concentrations with distance downstream (maximum effect to 100-115 meters). A mass balancee stimation suggested that 85.1% of the organic material (feed) entering the cage was used for fish growth/respiration, 6.8% was lost as settlable solids to the seafloor, and the remaining 8.1% was retained in the water column and a fraction that could affect non-target species (e. g., polyculture candidates) either directly or indirectly. A similar mass balance evaluation for trace metal and chernotherepeutic constituents indicated that 12.9% of the zinc, and an estimated 98.6% of the oxytetracycline contained in feed (during treatment), was released to the water column for potential uptake by co-cultured shellfish. The shellfish monitoring component of this study revealed that trace metal constituents of the feed did become available to the shellfish, although the ...