Oceanographic study of the south coast of Newfoundland

Description

The province of Newfoundland is experiencing a significant influx of investment in salmonid farming. Since 2004, 50 new marine sites for Atlantic salmon and 6 new sites for steelhead trout have been licensed in the Bay d'Espoir-Fortune Bay area. An additional 17 sites were under review in 2008. The increasing biomass, the increase in the number of companies operating, the diversity of production strategies, and the increasing concentration of farm sites, particularly in outer Bay d'Espoir, challenges biosecurity and the sustainability of this growth. Currently there is a lack of data and understanding of the oceanography of the outer Bay d'Espoir area that precludes establishment of scientifically validated production and management areas to guide site licensing, production planning, and sustainable management of the industry. The project will establish the infrastructure and the foundation for Newfoundland to be able to carry out an oceanography program to collect and model the physical environmental data - currents, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and salinity - and map the environmental parameters and potential zones of influence that will be used to establish production management areas.

Findings

N/A

Publications

N/A

Program Name

Program for Aquaculture Regulatory Research (PARR)

Year(s)

2008 - 2009

Ecoregion(s)

Atlantic: Newfoundland, Labrador Shelves

Principal Investigator(s)

Gehan Mabrouk
Email: Gehan.mabrouk@dfo-mpo.gc.ca