Research Document - 2009/003
Water Currents, Drifter Trajectories, and the Estimated Potential for Organic Particles Released from a Proposed Salmon Farm Operation in Little Musquash Cove, Southern New Brunswick to Enter the Musquash Marine Protected Area
By F.H. Page, B. Chang, R. Losier, and P. McCurdy
Abstract
A proposal to establish and to operate a finfish aquaculture site in the mouth of Little Musquash Cove, triggered questions about the potential for farm wastes to enter the Musquash Marine Protected Area (MMPA) that is a few kilometers to the east of the proposed site. In order to evaluate this question, new current meter and surface drifter observations were obtained from the area of interest. Calculations based on these and historical observations indicate that fish feed pellets and fish feces are unlikely to enter the MMPA and non-sinking and dissolved substances may intermittingly enter the mouth of the MMPA. DEPOMOD results suggest that the projected flux of sinking organics to the bottom exceeds 1 g C·m-2·d-1 in some areas. The drifter observations indicated that 32% of the non-sinking particles released within the boundaries of the proposed lease site on a flooding tide may enter the mouth of the MMPA. This percentage increases to 58% if near entries are included. If it is assumed the non-sinking particles released on an ebbing tide do not enter the MMPA, then the drifter data suggest that the total probability of non-sinking particles entering the MMPA is 16-29%, i.e. half of the flood tide probabilities.
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