Fish farm site-to-site connectivity using GPS tracked surface drifters and FVCOM-based particle tracking model

Description

Aquaculture Bay Management Areas (ABMAs) were implemented in southwest New Brunswick in 2006 as part of a multi-faceted effort to manage disease within fish farms and reduce the potential for the spread of disease between farms and geographic areas. The boundaries of the ABMAs were chosen so that the estimated exchange of water and associated water borne pathogens between ABMAs on a tidal time scale (~12.5h) was minimized. Although the ABMA approach to disease management seems to have been successful, the original ABMA structure imposed some operational limitations that have operational and socio-economic consequences. A splitting of some of the ABMAs will increase the total number of ABMAs in the southwest New Brunswick area and will help provide more operational flexibility to the industry. This approach could also offer more socio-economic stability to the residents of the area by providing more consistent and stable employment. This is particularly relevant to the island of Grand Manan in the mouth of the Bay of Fundy where employees sometimes need to travel by ferry to and from work on the island because of the lack of a third ABMA. However, despite the socio-economic benefit, both industry and provincial government desire a better understanding of the potential for water exchange between the farm sites within the existing ABMAs and the implications of splitting on the risk potential for disease-spread between fish farms. This is needed before splitting options and decisions can be made. A more advanced water circulation model, Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM), new particle tracking models, and new current meter data from the offshore area of eastern Grand Manan will soon be available and when these data are combined with the new drifter data collected under this project, a more substantial examination of the potential for water exchange between the fish farms in the ABMAs will be possible.

Program name

Aquaculture Collaborative Research and Development Program (ACRDP)

Years

3-year project

Principal investigator(s)

Fred Page
Research Scientist, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station, Maritimes Region
Email: Fred.Page@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Team members

• Susan Haigh, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station, Maritimes Region
• Sean Corrigan, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station, Maritimes Region
• Sarah Scouten, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station, Maritimes Region
• Mike Beattie, Province of New Brunswick, Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries
• Bruce Thorpe, Province of New Brunswick, Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries
• Pat Mowatt, Province of New Brunswick, Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries
• Frederick (Jack) Fife, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, St. Andrews Biological Station, Maritimes Region

Collaborators

• Sue Farquharson, Atlantic Canada Fish Farmers Association