Monitoring of benthic indicators of organic enrichment under aquaculture sites over mixed bottom substrates during a fish production cycle

Pezzola, Caterina (2021) Monitoring of benthic indicators of organic enrichment under aquaculture sites over mixed bottom substrates during a fish production cycle. Master's Research Project 2, Marine Biology.

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Abstract

Fin-fish aquaculture is associated with several environmental issues, including the deposition of organic waste the seafloor and the consequent impact on benthic communities. The aim of this study was to detect the presence of benthic visual indicators of organic enrichment (organic pellets, bacterial mats, polychaete complexes (OPC), Arenicola marina, polychaete tube aggregations, epifauna) through image analysis, and to determine the environmental factors affecting their distribution. Changes in the epifaunal community structure through time, and over different locations and habitats (soft-, mixed-, hard- bottom substrate), were also investigated. Images were collected beneath 3 fish cages (and a reference site) at a fin-fish farm site on the Western coast of Norway. A method was developed to characterize images and provide quantitative information on the ecological state under the farm through the use of the software Biigle 2.0. Results showed that the presence of organic material and bacterial mats was not indicative of a particular level of organic enrichment. The lugworm A. marina and aggregations of polychaete tubes were indicators of relatively low levels of organic enrichment, while OPC were indicators of relatively high levels of organic enrichment from the farm. The outcome of this study can contribute to the development of an environmental index to assess the ecological state around aquaculture farms placed over mixed- and hard- bottom areas.

Item Type:	Thesis (Master's Research Project 2)
Supervisor name:	Timmermans, K.R.
Degree programme:	Marine Biology
Thesis type:	Master's Research Project 2
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	23 Dec 2021 11:09
Last Modified:	23 Dec 2021 11:09
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/26419

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