Environmental Monitoring

There are two broad objectives for the environmental monitoring portion of the Open Ocean Aquaculture program: 1) To assess current and potential environmental impacts of the project, and 2) to develop sampling protocols and determine which parameters (e.g., density of benthic organisms, water column chlorophyl) are the best indicators of environmental impacts. The approach used to achieve these objectives is described in greater detail below.

The water column and bottom characteristics of the inner shelf in the vicinity of the fish pen site were thoroughly characterized prior to the introduction of fish or bivalves (starting in October 1997). This work included extensive bottom sediment sampling, collection of water samples, a geophysical survey (side scan sonar and subbottom seismics), and observations of the physical characteristics of the water column (salinity, temperature, currents). Since the introduction of fish in the pens in June 1999, an environmental monitoring program has been carried out to determine if the aquaculture activities have impacted the shelf environment. This includes seasonal descriptions of the physical characteristics of the water column, extensive water sampling to determine suspended sediment, nutrient and chlorophyll levels at multiple sites, as well as frequent sampling of the bottom sediments to examine the benthos. Infaunal benthos has been monitored at multiple sites in the vicinity of the fish pens and mussel longlines using either a Shipek grab or Wildco box corer. Epifauna and general bottom habitat monitoring using a video drop camera was initiated in October 2000.

In addition to discrete samples collected from research vessels, OOA researchers also use an automated buoy to collect near-continuous environmental data at the offshore site. Currently, the buoy is maintained jointly by staff from UNH and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), and provides information on wave amplitude as well as temperature, salinity, turbidity and fluorescence at selected depths in the water column. OOA team members hope to make this data available (in real time and in archived form) to the public via this web site.

See Environmental photos in the photo gallery!