Adaptation of the Mussel Aquaculture Operations and Equipment Management Software Program “Le mariculteur” for Scallop Culture

Final Report

Pec-Nord Inc

AIMAP 2011-Q04

Background

Quebec mussel growers currently have a tool for managing their longline equipment and stocks found onsite. The software program “Le mariculteur,” owned by the Société de développement de l'industrie maricole inc. (SODIM), was designed by a programmer-analyst and a consulting mariculturist. This software provides an easy management method for: managing production per site and by sector; managing infrastructure; managing the workforce by activity; representing mussel sites graphically; entering the information into a database; and generating reports in support of management activities. The software design features three different components: 1) a customized database, 2) collection of information in the field, and 3) management reporting and tools.

This project was set up to adapt the mussel aquaculture operations and equipment management software program “Le mariculteur” for scallop culture. Using the software for scallop culture required some adaptation, since the stages of scallop farming are different from those of mussel culture. The first stage of the culture cycle is providing juveniles. This stage involves three approaches: the capture of juveniles in the wild, production of scallop seed in hatcheries and the purchase of non-commercial sized individuals followed by their transfer to promote growth. The second stage is intermediate culture. After over a year juveniles are harvested, sorted according to size and distributed into appropriate structures such as pearl nets. Baskets (or other types of structures) are then placed in columns and suspended on lines immersed for a period of between eight and twelve months. The last stage is final scallop maturation over a period varying from two to five years, depending on the type of products sought. Several approaches can be considered, such as scallop culture using suspended structures in the water column with lantern nets, pocket nets or ear-hanging bags, oyster tables with Vexar® pocket nets on these tables, or seeding on the seabed by depositing scallops at previously chosen sites. Production methods and equipment required for these steps should therefore be available for this software. The current software program needs to be modified for application to scallop culture.

Changes Made

When launching the software program, it is now possible to choose the type of production desired, whether mussel or scallop culture. Once a particular type of production is selected, pages specific to each species become available.

Conclusion

The software program “Le mariculteur” with the scallop ad-on is not yet available because further modifications are being made by SODIM.

At first, there was no provision for assessing mussel inventories. In 2010, a team of consultants developed an inventory methodology on behalf of SODIM and this methodology is currently bound into the software program “Le mariculteur.” This methodology makes it possible to calculate the yield of mussel production: this calculation is based on a complete sampling and is validated by robust statistical tests.

This methodology aims to provide inventories for mussel farms by generating the most accurate estimates possible for the following characteristics: average weight of mussels, average length of mussels, total number of mussels per foot, total weight of mussels per foot and total projected weight of commercially harvested mussels. Generating these estimates requires several steps: description of cultured population, determining the number of samples, sampling of one-foot-lengths on different culture structures, measuring bare structures, weighing one-foot-length samples, counting the number of mussels, making estimates per cohort and for the entire cultured population and finally, assessing the age of cohorts. All these readings must be entered into an Excel file that has been developed to make estimates for the entire industry, providing an accurate overview of the total weight of mussels per structure, making estimates for the entire cohort, providing a precise evaluation of the total weight of mussels per cohort, simulating a harvesting scenario and finally providing the total weight of each mussel cohort based on available information on final density as furnished by the user.

Work related to integration of this inventory methodology into the software program “Le mariculteur” took place before the adaptation of the software for scallop culture. All programming work and a complete translation of the software program have been undertaken by the same two-person team.

We believe that the entire software program “Le mariculteur” will be available in December 2012.