Cawthron’s current fouling research in the Marlborough sounds

Marine Farming Association Blue Mussel Over-settlement Project and Spat Committee Meeting / Workshop

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?