The Prince Edward Island Aquaculture Division operates two shellfish monitoring programs:
the Mussel Monitoring Program and the Oyster Monitoring Program. The main goal of both programs is to provide the aquaculture industries with technical information to support growers with the management of their farms. Both programs were initiated
to gather information to optimize the successful collection of mussel and oyster seed stocks. Since that time, the monitoring programs have evolved to address changing industry needs.
In addition to the Monitoring Programs, the Aquaculture Division added a much-required Productivity Program. Several years ago, there was a n unexplained and widespread decline in shellfish productivity. At the time, several theories were considered including unusual weather patterns, changes in water quality and changes in stocking densities within growing areas. Stocking density was ruled out as the cause due to the widespread (Island wide) nature of the decline. Historical weather data from Environment and Climate Change Canada was investigated and anomalies were highlighted as being worthy of additional investigation; however, there was very little data available on water quality. As a result, several multi parameter water quality instruments were acquired and deployed in major shellfish production areas. The goal of the monitoring is to enable the comparison of water quality parameters between growing areas and to also highlight differences between years and determine if these trends align with changes in productivity at the bay level.
A significant amount of data has been collected over the past number of years through these programs . The data has enabled trends to be observed and highlighted; however, the vast amounts of data being collected do not come without challenges and limitations. Some considerations include quality assurance and quality control, data management and access, deployment methods and standardization and of course, ongoing costs to long-term monitoring.