Effects of hydraulic shellfish harvesting on benthic communities and sediment chemistry 2009-2013

The effects of hydraulic shellfish harvesting on the ecology of biological communities and chemistry of benthic sediments were investigated through a series of experiments conducted over a 5-year period from 2009 to 2013. Studies on a variety of different clam beds were undertaken in collaboration with local shellfish harvesters. Sediment samples were collected over the summer and early fall (June to October) and sorted to identify and count benthic organisms and to measure chemical parameters (e.g., pH, oxygen, aragonite saturation state), at the sediment/water interface. Comparisons of dredged to not dredged seafloor found that the effects of season (date of sampling) and location (sediment grain size) exceeded those of shellfish harvesting. Numbers of newly settled bivalves were often higher on recently harvested bottom. Shallow inshore marine communities appear to be highly resilient to disturbance, whether natural or manmade. Shellfish harvesting had only minor impacts on the ecology of seafloor communities and on chemistry of marine sediments.

Assess effects of hydraulic shellfish harvesting on benthic communities and sediment chemistry

Effects of Clam Dredging 2011:

Mercaldo-Allen, R., Goldberg, R., Clark, P., Kuropat, C., Meseck, S.L., Rose, J. M.2016.

Benthic Ecology of Northern Quahog Beds with Different Hydraulic Dredging Histories in Long Island Sound.

Journal of Coastal Research 32(2):408-415.

Effects of Clam Dredging 2010:

Ronald Goldberg, Julie M. Rose, Renee Mercaldo-Allen, Shannon L. Meseck, Paul Clark, Catherine Kuropat, and Jose J. Pereira. 2014.

Effects of hydraulic dredging on the benthic ecology and sediment chemistry on a cultivated bed of the hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria.

Aquaculture 428–429: 150–157

Effects of Clam Dredging 2009:

Goldberg, R., R. Mercaldo-Allen, J. M. Rose, P. Clark, C. Kuropat, S. Meseck, and J. Pereira. 2012.

Effects of hydraulic shellfish dredging on the ecology of a cultivated clam bed.

Aquaculture Environment Interactions 3:11-21.

Contact Renee Mercaldo-Allen

Contact Renee Mercaldo-Allen

NEFSC Data Access Procedure:

1. Formal request in writing usually to the data owner/contact or Center Director;

2. Requester is contacted by data owner to review and verify the request content and details for data delivery options.

3. If data is confidential then owner will determine if the data may be released to the requester;

4. If data can be released, the data is downloaded and packaged for delivery electronically; or the requester may be directed to where the data is available online.

NEFSC Data Access Constraint:

If data is stored on an internal NEFSC network, the requester may not have direct access to query the data unless they are also authorized for network access.

not applicable

not applicable

not applicable

Excel files on centralized network storage

Benthic organisms identified to lowest taxa

Omitted data would be due to missing samples

Individuals sorting sediments are trained to recognize benthic organisms and one staff member has become an expert on identifying benthic organisms in Long Island Sound and conducts all the identifications.

Not applicable

Data is stored on the network drive which is backed up daily. Remote storage backups.

Data derived from sediment samples collected from dredged and not dredged bottom, bethic organisms removed, identified and counted, sediment analyzed for grain size, pH, oxygen and other chemical variables