Long-Term Changes in Beach Fauna at Duck, North Carolina

Source: https://erdc-library.erdc.dren.mil/jspui/Long-term changes in the beach fauna at Duck, North Carolina, were investigated. Twenty-one stations located on three transects on the oceanside and twenty-four stations located on three transects on the sound side were sampled seasonally from November 1980 to July 1981. The data collected in this study were compared to a previous study conducted in 1976 (Matta, 1977) to investigate the potential effects of the construction of the CERC Field Research Facility pier on the adjacent beaches. No effects on the benthic fauna were found. Changes observed in the benthic macrofauna on the ocean beaches were well within the range attributable to the natural variation of an open coast system. The ocean beach macrofauna was observed to form a single community, migrating on and off the beach with the seasons. On the sound beaches, changes were detected in the benthic macrofauna; however, these were attributed to a salinity increase during the 1981 sampling year

Shrimp Separator Trawl Experiments: Gulf of Maine Shrimp Fishery

The discard of finfish bycatch in the Gulf of Maine, northern shrimp trawl fishery is considered a serious problem. The species specific discard rate varied from 17% for winter flounder to 95% for silver hake in fifty tows made by commercial trawlers during the period 1985-1989 (Howell and Langan, 1990). Studies by Jean (1963) and Howell and Langan (1987) suggest a very high mortality for discarded finfish in the Western North Atlantic fisheries. The discard problem has two major facets: direct wastage in throwing back fish into the sea and loss of future catches of larger animals through the mortality of small individuals (Saila 1983). Given the perceived problem of discarded bycatch in the Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery, the objective of this project was to experiment with several design modifications to existing traditional trawls that would reduce the juvenile finfish bycatch. The concept of selective shrimp trawls is not novel. Trawl design modifications have been evaluated in shrimp fisheries to separate the finfish from the shrimp with varying success. The techniques utilize behavioral and size differences between shrimp and finfish, and include horizontal separator twine panels, large mesh escape panels, deflecting grids, accelerator funnels, and others. In this project, the northern style shrimp trawls served as the control nets. The basic modifications evaluated were: large mesh in belly area and a funnel accelerator ahead of the trawl cod-end

New species of Membranobalanus hoek and Hexacreusia zullo (Cirripedia, Balanidae) from the Galapagos archipelago

Volume: 249Start Page: 1End Page: 1

Trends in fish abundance in Mount Hope Bay: Is the Brayton Point Power Station affecting fish stocks?

Trends in abundance for winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus), windowpane (Scophthalmus aquosus), hogchoker (Trinectes maculatus), tautog (Tautoga onitis), and scup (Stenotomus chrysops) in upper and lower Mount Hope Bay were compared to trends in Narragansett Bay to assess the effect of natural and anthropogenic stressors, including Brayton Point Power Station, on Mount Hope Bay fishes from 1972 to 2001. Sources of data included the Rhode Island Division of Fish and Wildlife trawl survey for Narragansett Bay and lower Mount Hope Bay, the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography trawl survey for Narragansett Bay, and the Marine Research, Inc. trawl and Brayton Point Station impingement surveys for upper Mount Hope Bay. Analysis of covariance and Tukey-Kramer multiple comparison tests were used to evaluate differences in the slopes of transformed abundance indices from 1972-2001 and for two subsets of years, 1972 to 1985 and 1986 to 2001, periods of lower and higher power plant cooling water withdrawals, respectively. Trends in abundance of these species in both upper and lower Mount Hope Bay are not substantively different from those in Narragansett Bay during any of the three time periods evaluated. This is evident through either a high-level visual inspection of the slopes measured for each species, time period, and area or a more detailed inspection of the analysis of covariance results and Tukey-Kramer confidence intervals associated with each slope estimate. Natural and anthropogenic stressors unique to Mount Hope Bay, including Brayton Point Station, have not caused Mount Hope Bay fish stocks to change at rates different from those observed for the same stocks in Narragansett Bay. This supports the conclusion that large-scale factors such as overfishing, climate change, and increased predator abundance are more likely to be the cause of the observed declines in important species such as winter flounder in Mount Hope Bay and Narragansett Bay

Attraction and repulsion of mobile wild organisms to finfish and shellfish aquaculture: a review

Knowledge of aquaculture–environment interactions is essential for the development of a sustainable aquaculture industry and efficient marine spatial planning. The effects of fish and shellfish farming on sessile wild populations, particularly infauna, have been studied intensively. Mobile fauna, including crustaceans, fish, birds and marine mammals, also interact with aquaculture operations, but the interactions are more complex and these animals may be attracted to (attraction) or show an aversion to (repulsion) farm operations with various degrees of effects. This review outlines the main mechanisms and effects of attraction and repulsion of wild animals to/from marine finfish cage and bivalve aquaculture, with a focus on effects on fisheries-related species. Effects considered in this review include those related to the provision of physical structure (farm infrastructure acting as fish aggregating devices (FADs) or artificial reefs (ARs), the provision of food (e.g. farmed animals, waste feed and faeces, fouling organisms associated with farm structures) and some farm activities (e.g. boating, cleaning). The reviews show that the distribution of mobile organisms associated with farming structures varies over various spatial (vertical and horizontal) and temporal scales (season, feeding time, day/night period). Attraction/repulsion mechanisms have a variety of direct and indirect effects on wild organisms at the level of individuals and populations and may have implication for the management of fisheries species and the ecosystem in the context of marine spatial planning. This review revealed considerable uncertainties regarding the long-term and ecosystem-wide consequences of these interactions. The use of modelling may help better understand consequences, but long-term studies are necessary to better elucidate effects