Seagrass and shellfish aquaculture: An assessment to Inform management and Research

When planning for and managing aquaculture-industry development, coastal managers must weigh environmental benefits and costs along with a growing number of other activities within the coastal zone. One such conflict includes the interactions between shellfish aquaculture and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). Due to the importance of SAV as an essential fish habitat and the global decline in seagrass ecosystems, managers are concerned with how shellfish cultivation techniques impact sensitive SAV communities. Industry-wide monitoring reports and research findings suggest that shellfish aquaculture can have variable impacts on SAV depending on the cultivation technique and health of surrounding SAV communities. In many cases, shellfish aquaculture is identified as providing ecosystem services similar to SAV such as habitat provisioning, improving water clarity, inducing sedimentation, and carbon sequestration. To better understand these interactions, the NOAA National Ocean Service's Coastal Aquaculture Siting and Sustainability program is conducting a State of Science Assessment. This assessment provides a review of regulatory mandates, shellfish cultivation practices, SAV interactions (both negative and positive), and approaches for habitat equivalency analysis. In cases where net positive effects on SAV occur, we propose a metric and analysis framework capable of calculating net ecosystem effects. This approach allows the coastal manager to consider trade-offs and benefits at the ecosystem level.  This presentation will provide an update on the status of this assessment, findings thus far, and a timeline for completion.