Aquaculture America 2023

February 23 - 26, 2023

New Orleans, Louisiana USA

POPULATION DYNAMICS ASSESSMENT AND PREY DETECTION OF THE BLUE CRABS Callinectes sapidus USING EDNA ANALYSIS AT DELAWARE INLAND BAYS

Juan Ramos*, Tahera Attarwala, Marcus Teat, Zachary Riggi, Kevin Knight, Cassandra Miller, Emily Andrade, Ali Paraseimehr, Ph D., and Gulnihal Ozbay, Ph.D.

 

Department of Agriculture & Natural Resources, Delaware State University, Dover, DE 19901 USA. Jramos20@students.desu.edu

 



Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus) fisheries is a multi-million-dollar industry, which is extremely important to the Mid-Atlantic States.  C. sapidus is an important keystone species to the aquatic ecosystem of Delaware Inland Bays. In aquatic ecosystems, C. sapidus serves both as predator and prey. The objective of this study focuses on the population dynamic of C. sapidus and its relationship with its surroundings such as oyster reefs or oyster aquaculture activities and its roles in biodiversity preservation. The primary research area is selected in Rehoboth Bay, Delaware where most oyster aquaculture and oyster restoration activities are taking place. We have deployed 18 crab traps within 6 study sites (2 aquaculture, 2 artificial reefs, and 2 controlled sites) since June 2022. While collecting water samples to process water quality parameters we include “Bay City” as the 7th site. We deployed the crab traps every two weeks and kept the traps in the water no longer than 24-36 hours. Each site receives 2 commercial-size cages and 1 half-moon recreational-size pot. Each commercial cage is baited with 2 Menhaden (Brevoortia Tyrannus), while the recreational pots get 1 Menhaden. Additionally, with field assessment, the molecular biology approach has been used for monitoring the biodiversity of the prey of C. sapidus using Environmental DNA (eDNA). Water quality has been monitored at the sites every week using YSI Multiprobe 5600 and water samples have been tested for Nitrate, Nitrite, Total Alkalinity, and Total Hardness while Total Chlorophyll-a and Turbidity have been monitored using Turner Design Fluorometer. Per harvest totals range from 140-230 blue crabs have been captured. All of the crabs were captured from June 15th through the end of the crabbing season on November 30th. Blue crab size and sex determination have been conducted along with sampling for e-DNA. We monitored higher female crabs throughout all study sites. The overall result is promising and shows a relationship for increased blue crab activities that varies by habitats such as aquaculture, artificial reefs, or controlled in Rehoboth Bay, Delaware.