Partial recovery of infaunal communities during a fallow period at an open-ocean aquaculture

Published source details Lin D. & Bailey-Brock J. (2008) Partial recovery of infaunal communities during a fallow period at an open-ocean aquaculture. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 371, 65-72.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Leave a fallow period during fish/shellfish farming Action Link

Leave a fallow period during fish/shellfish farming

A replicated, before-and-after, site comparison study in 2001–2007 in four sandy seabed locations off the coast of Hawai’i, North Pacific Ocean, USA (Lin & Bailey-Brock 2008) found that after a six-month fallow period polychaete worm diversity, abundances and community composition changed at farmed sites, but remained different from that of sites without fish farms. Community data were reported as statistical model results and graphical analyses. The cumulative relative abundance of three pollution-indicator worms, Capitella capitata, Neanthes arenaceodentata, and Ophryotrocha adherens, tended to be lower after the fallow period (5%), compared to before (70%), but remained higher than at sites without fish farms (0%) (results not statistically tested). Worm species diversity at farmed sites was not different at the end compared to the start of the fallow period, and remained lower than at sites without fish farms (data reported as a diversity index). Four aquaculture locations were surveyed, each with four farmed sites and two unfarmed. Sediment samples were collected 16 times between November 2001 and August 2006 (before the fallow period), twice during the fallow period (between August 2006 to March 2007), and once in May 2007 (after fish were restocked). Divers collected three to five sediment samples/collection/site using hand tube corers (11 cm diameter, to 5 cm depth) at 39–45 m depths. Polychaete worms (>0.5 mm) were identified and counted.

(Summarised by: Anaëlle Lemasson)