Modelling current speed and carrying capacity in long-line blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) farms

The development of the mussel (Mytilus edulis) farming industry in Norway is based on suspended long-line culture, and large areas of the coast are potentially suitable for farming. Norwegian fjords and coastal waters are regarded as oligotrophic environments in comparison with sites where most studies on mussel feeding on natural seston have been carried out. High mussel culture densities in oligotrophic water may cause seston depletion, resulting in low growth or tissue wasting due to reduced feeding and negative net energy balance. In this paper we present a carrying capacity model based on rate conditional processes, balanced against flushing and with emphasis on flow reduction as a function of farm design. The model is based on assumptions that friction forces are a function of geometric shape of the channel made up by the suspended mussel ropes as vertical boundaries and it quantifies carrying capacity according to information of farm length, space between long lines, seston concentration and background current speed and the relative importance of these factors. Estimates of how stocking density in mussel farming can be optimized in relation to the food supply (i.e. carrying capacity) are crucial to production management decisions, and the model may provide predictors for decisions regarding new site selection or expansion of existing operations.

[1]  W. Geyer,et al.  The importance of boundary‐layer flows in supplying phytoplankton to the benthic suspension feeder, Mytilus edulis L. , 1989 .

[2]  Cédric Bacher,et al.  A numerical model of flow modification induced by suspended aquaculture in a Chinese bay , 2001 .

[3]  P. Dolmer.  Algal concentration profiles above mussel beds , 2000 .

[4]  R. Dame.  Ecology of Marine Bivalves : An Ecosystem Approach , 1996 .

[5]  P. Cranford,et al.  Seasonal variation in food utilization by the suspension-feeding bivalve molluscs Mytilus edulis and Placopecten magellanicus , 1999 .

[6]  R. Rosenberg,et al.  Energy-flow in a Mytilus edulis culture in western Sweden , 1983 .

[7]  G. Nédélec,et al.  RESEARCH ON REARING TURBOT (Scophthalmus maximus): RESULTS AND PERSPECTIVES , 2009 .

[8]  J. Grant,et al.  Sediment resuspension rates, organic matter quality and food utilization by sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) on Georges Bank , 1997 .

[9]  O. Lindahl,et al.  Changes in the plankton community passing a Mytilus edulis mussel bed , 1999 .

[10]  H. Asmus,et al.  Phytoplankton-Mussel Bed Interactions in Intertidal Ecosystems , 1993 .

[11]  Lars-Ove Loo,et al.  Improving Marine Water Quality by Mussel Farming: A Profitable Solution for Swedish Society , 2005, Ambio.

[12]  J. Fuentes,et al.  Within-raft variability of the growth rate of mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis, cultivated in the Rı́a de Arousa (NW Spain) , 2000 .

[13]  Manuel Zapata,et al.  Some aspects of the water flow through mussel rafts , 1996 .

[14]  Conrad A. Pilditch,et al.  Seston supply to sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) in suspended culture , 2001 .

[15]  E. Navarro,et al.  The physiological energetics of mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis Lmk) from different cultivation rafts in the Ria de Arosa (Galicia, N.W. Spain) , 1991 .

[16]  M. Dowd,et al.  Perspectives on Field Studies and Related Biological Models of Bivalve Growth and Carrying Capacity , 1993 .

[17]  R. Newell,et al.  Temporal and spatial variations in the composition of seston available to the suspension feeder Crassostrea virginica , 1986 .

[18]  J. E. Winter.  A review on the knowledge of suspension-feeding in lamellibranchiate bivalves, with special reference to artificial aquaculture systems , 1978 .

[19]  Ø. Strand,et al.  FLOW REDUCTION, SESTON DEPLETION, MEAT CONTENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF DIARRHETIC SHELLFISH TOXINS IN A LONG-LINE BLUE MUSSEL (MYTILUS EDULIS) FARM , 2009 .

[20]  H. U. Riisgård.  On measurement of filtration rates in bivalves — the stony road to reliable data: review and interpretation , 2001 .

[21]  A. Smaal,et al.  Average annual growth and condition of mussels as a function of food source , 1990 .

[22]  P. Duarte,et al.  A functional model of responsive suspension-feeding and growth in bivalve shellfish, configured and validated for the scallop Chlamys farreri during culture in China. , 2002 .

[23]  H. U. Riisgård,et al.  Regulation of opening state and filtration rate in filter-feeding bivalves (Cardium edule, Mytilus edulis, Mya arenaria) in response to low algal concentration , 2003 .

[24]  R. W. Hickman,et al.  Modelling of suspension-feeding and growth in the green-lipped mussel Perna canaliculus exposed to natural and experimental variations of seston availability in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand , 1999 .

[25]  Jan Aure,et al.  Seasonal variability in inherent optical properties in a western Norwegian fjord , 2004 .

[26]  J. Kestin,et al.  Handbook of fluid dynamics , 1948 .

[27]  E. Paasche,et al.  Phosphorus and nitrogen limitation of phytoplankton in the inner Oslofjord (Norway) , 1988 .

[28]  R. Dame,et al.  Bivalve carrying capacity in coastal ecosystems , 2004, Aquatic Ecology.

[29]  Gavin Burnell,et al.  Food resource, gametogenesis and growth of Mytilus edulis on the shore and in suspended culture: Killary Harbour, Ireland , 1984, Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[30]  F. G. Figueiras,et al.  Coastal upwelling, primary production and mussel growth in the Rías Baixas of Galicia , 2002, Hydrobiologia.