pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Development and application of an online tool to quantify nitrogen removal associated with harvest of cultivated eastern oysters - PubMed

  • ️Mon Jan 01 2024

Development and application of an online tool to quantify nitrogen removal associated with harvest of cultivated eastern oysters

Julie M Rose et al. PLoS One. 2024.

Abstract

Shellfish aquaculture can provide important ecosystem services to coastal communities, yet these benefits are not typically considered within the aquaculture permit review process. Resource managers have expressed interest in easy-to-use tools, based on robust science, that produce location and operation-appropriate values for beneficial services. These values need to be produced in a format that aligns with existing regulatory processes to facilitate seamless integration with permit review. The removal of excess nitrogen from coastal waters by shellfish farms is well documented in the literature and has been incorporated into nutrient management in the USA. Shellfish assimilate nitrogen into their tissue and shell as they grow, and this nitrogen is removed from the environment upon harvest. We have assembled a dataset of nitrogen concentration and morphometric measurements from farmed eastern oysters across the US Northeast, and adapted methodology used by existing nutrient management programs to quantify harvest-associated removal of nitrogen. Variability in oyster tissue and shell nutrient concentration was low within the dataset, and an assessment of farm location, ploidy, and three common cultivation practices (floating gear, bottom gear, no gear) suggested that a simple regression-based calculation could be applied across all farms within the region. We designed the new, publicly available online Aquaculture Nutrient Removal Calculator tool https://connect.fisheries.noaa.gov/ANRC/ based on this analysis, which uses inputs related to oyster size and harvest number to predict harvest-based nitrogen removal from an eastern oyster farm located within the geographic range of North Carolina to Maine, USA. The tool also produces a report that has been designed to integrate with the US Army Corps of Engineers public interest review process, and similar state-level permitting processes, and provides a succinct summary of the ecological services associated with nutrient removal in eutrophic locations, project-specific values, and citations supporting the calculation of those values.

Copyright: This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Sample locations of eastern oyster (C. virginica) used in the present study from aquaculture farm sites along the eastern seaboard of the United States.

Orange diamonds show locations with morphometric data only, green circles show locations with both morphometric and nitrogen (N) concentration data.

Fig 2
Fig 2

Summary of eastern oyster tissue percent nitrogen (N) composition by (A) state, (B) cultivation practice, (C) ploidy. Median values are illustrated by the notch and horizontal black lines in each boxplot, and mean values are shown as black diamonds. Circles indicate outlier values that fall outside 1.5x the interquartile range.

Fig 3
Fig 3

Summary of eastern oyster shell percent composition of nitrogen (N) summarized by (A) state, (B) cultivation practice, (C) ploidy. Median values are illustrated by the notch and horizontal black lines in each boxplot, and mean values are shown as black diamonds. Circles indicate outlier values that fall outside 1.5x the interquartile range.

Fig 4
Fig 4

The relationship between eastern oyster dry weight and shell height for (A) tissue and (B) shell. (Solid black line) 50th quantile regression of a nonlinear power function for the ANRC regional data compiled in this study. Dashed vertical lines represent typical market size for harvested eastern oysters in the Northeastern US, ranging from 2.5–3.5 in (63.5–88.9 mm).

Fig 5
Fig 5

Eastern oyster dry weight (g) vs. shell height (mm) for tissue (A) and shell (B) for diploid oysters (blue circles, black regression line) and triploid oysters (red circles, red regression line). Regression lines are the 50th quantile fit of a nonlinear power function. Dashed vertical lines represent typical market size for harvested eastern oysters in the Northeastern US, ranging from 2.5–3.5 in (63.5–88.9 mm).

Fig 6
Fig 6

Eastern oyster dry weight vs. shell height for tissue (A) and shell (B) for eastern oysters cultivated in floating gear (red), no gear (green), and bottom gear (blue). Regression lines represent the 50th quantile fit of a nonlinear power function. Dashed vertical lines represent typical market size for harvested eastern oysters in the Northeastern US, ranging from 2.5–3.5 in (63.5–88.9 mm).

Fig 7
Fig 7

Eastern oyster dry weight vs. shell height for tissue (A) and shell (B) for the New England (gray) and Mid-Atlantic (blue) sub-regions of the US Northeast. Regression lines represent the 50th quantile fit of a nonlinear power function. Dashed vertical lines represent typical market size for harvested eastern oysters in the Northeastern US, ranging from 2.5–3.5 in (63.5–88.9 mm).

Fig 8
Fig 8

The relationship between eastern oyster dry weight and shell height for (A) tissue and (B) shell. (Red triangles) ANRC regional data spanning the US east coast from Maine to North Carolina. (Gray circles) previously reported oyster morphometrics data for wild, farmed, and restored oysters in Chesapeake Bay.

Similar articles

References

    1. Alleway HK, Gillies CL, Bishop MJ, Gentry RR, Theuerkauf SJ, Jones R. The Ecosystem Services of Marine Aquaculture: Valuing Benefits to People and Nature. BioScience. 2019;69(1):59–68. doi: 10.1093/biosci/biy137 - DOI
    1. Gentry RR, Alleway HK, Bishop MJ, Gillies CL, Waters T, Jones R. Exploring the potential for marine aquaculture to contribute to ecosystem services. Reviews in Aquaculture. 2020;12(2):499–512. doi: 10.1111/raq.12328 - DOI
    1. Petrolia DR, Nyanzu F, Cebrian J, Harri A, Amato J, Walton WC. Eliciting expert judgment to inform management of diverse oyster resources for multiple ecosystem services. Journal of Environmental Management. 2020;268:110676. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110676 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lindahl O, Hart R, Hernroth B, Kollberg S, Loo L-O, Olrog L, et al.. Improving marine water quality by mussel farming—a profitable solution for Swedish society. Ambio. 2005;34(2):129–36. - PubMed
    1. Petersen JK, Hasler B, Timmermann K, Nielsen P, Tørring DB, Larsen MM, et al.. Mussels as a tool for mitigation of nutrients in the marine environment. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 2014;82(1–2):137–43. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.03.006 - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding

Funding for this work was provided to JMR and CS from the NOAA Fisheries Office of Aquaculture, https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/about/office-aquaculture. There was no grant number associated with this funding. The funders played no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

LinkOut - more resources