A new study aims to use tagged lobsters to help assess the positive impact of offshore shellfish aquaculture on marine ecology.
Scientists, mussel farmers and fishermen off the coast of Devon and Dorset are this month starting tagging work that will help them assess the impact of offshore aquaculture on the overall health of the ocean.
The Ropes to Reefs project – funded through the Fisheries Industry Science Partnership (FISP) scheme, part of the Government’s UK Seafood Fund – is looking to assess the wider benefits of the UK’s first large-scale offshore mussel farm, located in Lyme Mr.
It is led by scientists at the University of Plymouth working with a range of partners, including producers such as Offshore Shellfish Ltd, Scallop Ranch Ltd, Biome Algae Ltd and various local and national fisheries and fisheries organisations. conservation.
During March, work begins to tag the lobsters living in and around the mussel farm so that the project team can get a better appreciation of their movements and the habitats they favor.
This will be followed up in the coming months by tagging thnback rays, black bream and thick-lipped mullet, giving researchers a clearer picture of the effects of mussel farms on different species. which is critically important to the fishing industry in the region.
The project was developed to fill scientific knowledge gaps on fish and crustaceans in the region, to better inform future management strategies, and to understand how aquaculture installations such as offshore mussel farms can benefit. in the surrounding fisheries.
It is also expected to support the aquaculture industry to meet ambitious targets around sustainable food production, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The Ropes to Reef project builds on more than a decade of research at the University, funded by Offshore Shellfish Ltd, with a previous study – published in 2022 – suggesting that mussel farms could have wider that benefits the environment.
John Holmyard, Managing Director at Offshore Shellfish Ltd, commented: “The biggest environmental benefit from offshore mussel farming is that it produces large quantities of high quality protein with a lower environmental footprint than almost any other method of food production. So what we get is providing food with no land use, no fresh water use, zero pollution, zero fertiliser, zero chemicals, zero medication, zero feed input, zero or very low net carbon emissions.
“On the other hand, it delivers positive ecosystem services, increased biodiversity, habitat creation and spillover benefits to surrounding fisheries. When you put all that together, it makes a very strong case for this type of food production.
Boat, Offshore Shellfish
The project will use cutting edge, cost-effective and non-destructive remote sampling techniques to monitor the seabed and ocean beneath and around the farm.
These include state-of-the-art echo sounders and multibeam sonar, along with ground truthing cameras deployed from local fishing boats, both of which will produce high-resolution data.
Researchers will also use technology developed through the FISH INTEL project, another University-led initiative, to track tagged fish and crustaceans using the world’s first multi-farm aquaculture telemetry network.
Greg Clifford, Director of Scallop Ranch Ltd and one of the Ropes to Reefs project partners, added: “Anecdotally, we often say that scallop farms are a breeding ground for fish. They have creatures that grow on all the equipment we have in water, some live and grow in or around it and others feed on the life it inhabits. Ropes to Reefs will add science and rigor to this, quantifying and rationalizing what we see as we go about our daily business. When we really understand how the farm interacts with and supports the surrounding ecosystem, we can build a case for why low-trophic aquaculture is an important part of the modern world.”
Fishermen who want to know more about the Ropes to Reefs project, and how they can get involved in its work, can do so through the project’s website.
Mussel ropes
