Cawthron’s current fouling research in the Marlborough sounds

Transcript

1. CAWTHRON’S CURRENT FOULING RESEARCH IN THE MARLBOROUGH SOUNDS JAVIER ATALAH

   Spat Committee Meeting / Workshop MFA, Havelock, 10 of May 2013

2. CAWTHRON TEAM…. Biosecurity team leader: Grant Hopkins Senior scientist and

   consultant: Barrie Forrest Molecular tools: Xavier Pochon Novel mitigation tools, fouling ecology : Javier Atalah Pelorus fouling patterns : Ashleigh Watts (MSc) Fouling patterns : Mauricio Cifuentes (PhD) Didemnum ecology & impacts: Lauren Fletcher Epidemiology and risk management : Aurelie Castinel

3. BIOFOULING AND AQUACULTURE • Significant threat to a number of

   aquaculture industries worldwide • Often strong competitors (eg space and food) • Solitary ascidians impacting cultured mussel and oyster industries overseas • Increased costs of production and processing • Impacts on growth rates and meat yields

4. Mytilus spp.

5. Didemnum vexillum

6. Ciona intestinalis

7. Cladophora spp.

8. FOULING AND THE MUSSEL INDUSTRY • Can overgrow and smother

   mussels on lines • Increased weight can lead to crop losses • Concern around effects on seed-stock survival • Lack of basic ecological information (eg seasonality, reproduction, distribution, etc.) • Limited impact studies

9. FOULING COMMUNITIES ALONG THE PELORUS SOUND  Mauricio Cifuentes (PhD

   work) - University of Wellington Objectives  To describe fouling communities along the Pelorus Sound in relation to environmental variables.  Evaluate the influence seasonality, age and substrate position on the development and composition of biofouling.  Define regions with distinct biofouling.

10. STUDY SITES

11. EXPERIMENTAL UNITS

12. SURFACE TEMPERATURE

13. SURFACE SALINITY PATTERNS

14. SEDIMENTATION RATES

15. FOULING BIOMASS

16. SOLITARY ASCIDIANS

17. BROWN SEAWEED

18. COLONIAL ASCIDIANS

19. BLUE MUSSELS

20. BARNACLES

21. BRYOZOANS

22. FUTURE WORK • Within bay fouling variability • Predictive models

    • Incorporate other environmental variables (eg rainfall, currents, exposure level, turbidity, etc) • Additional seasons, year and fouling community ages (3, 6 and 12 month old).

23. BLUE OVER-SETTLEMENT PROJECT  Sorting of 1974 – 2012 data

    provided by J. Jenkins  Preliminary analyses  Pending shellfish programme proposal for further analyses

24. Mytilus Perna Observed historical spat recruitment

25. PREDICTED ANNUAL PATTERNS OF RECRUITMENT Mytilus Perna

26. PREDICTED SPAT RECRUITMENT VS. TEMPERATURE Mytilus Perna

27. BLUE SPAT RECRUITMENT BY DEPTH

28. GREEN SPAT RECRUITMENT BY DEPTH

29. MYTILUS RECRUITMENT BY SITE

30. PERNA RECRUITMENT BY SITE

31. OTHER RELATED RESEARCH: MOON JELLYFISH

32. NATIVE OR ALIEN?

33. None