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Modelling the Spatial Distribution of Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Biodeposits Settling from Suspended Aquaculture

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Abstract

Oysters in suspended aquaculture filter out particulates from the water column and release pseudofeces and feces (collectively called biodeposits) back to the water column. These biodeposits consist of dense assemblages of labile organic matter that quickly settle to the sediment surface. To properly quantify the environmental effects of biodeposition from suspended aquaculture, it is necessary to determine where the biodeposits settle. An analytical/numerical model was developed for suspended aquaculture systems to predict the spatial distribution of biodeposits; input parameters include water depth, tidal elevation, biodeposit settling rate, and wind and tidally driven current velocity. The biodeposit model was validated in three shallow Cape Cod, Massachusetts, estuaries characterized by low-energy hydrodynamics. For each site, model-predicted carbon deposition was regressed against measured carbon remineralization (determined from sediment oxygen uptake) obtained from intact sediment cores collected along a gradient of predicted carbon deposition. Results showed that in summer, nearly all carbon deposited was remineralized but that the fraction of deposited carbon that is remineralized decreases considerably with declining temperatures in the fall. The simple analytical/numerical model developed and validated in this study provides a tool for commercial oyster growers and environmental managers to assess the effect of organic matter deposition by suspended oyster aquaculture over the growing season. This approach can be applied in shallow depositional coastal systems.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the United States Environmental Protection Agency Southeast New England Program and the Towns of Orleans and Falmouth for supporting this work. We gratefully acknowledge Science Wares Inc. for maintaining the oyster arrays and their assistance determining oyster survival and growth, and the Westport Director of Marine Services, Chris Leonard, and the Westport River Watershed Alliance who assisted in gear construction and deployments in Cockeast Pond. In addition, we thank the Falmouth Marine and Environmental Services Director, Chuck Martinsen, for supplying the oysters and gear for the Bournes Pond site. Finally, we thank D.R. Schlezinger, J. Benson, S. Horvet, A. Unruh, and N. Uline of the Coastal Systems Program at SMAST-UMD. We sincerely appreciate the helpful comments of the two anonymous reviewers whose recommendations significantly improved this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences, School for Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 706 South Rodney French Blvd, New Bedford, MA, 02744, USA

    Micheline S. Labrie, Miles A. Sundermeyer & Brian L. Howes

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  1. Micheline S. Labrie
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  2. Miles A. Sundermeyer
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Correspondence to Micheline S. Labrie.

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Communicated by Lijun Hou

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Labrie, M.S., Sundermeyer, M.A. & Howes, B.L. Modelling the Spatial Distribution of Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Biodeposits Settling from Suspended Aquaculture. Estuaries and Coasts 45, 2690–2709 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-022-01096-4

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