CRMC receives funding for aquaculture study

September 16, 2008, WAKEFIELD –The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) recently received funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Aquaculture Initiative (NMAI) to study the impacts of aquaculture on the marine environment

The study, “Ecological carrying capacity of Rhode Island waters for oyster culture,” will be conducted by the CRMC, its Working Group on Aquaculture Regulations and the University of Rhode Island. This study, which received $150,000 from NMAI, was a proposed action in the working group’s biology subcommittee report: “Report on Biological Impacts of Aquaculture,” released earlier this year. The working group has discussed the possibility of limiting the amount of aquaculture in the salt ponds to 5 percent, and the purpose of this study is to explore that suggestion.

In 2007 the working group was reconvened (it was first created in 2000) to address increasing concerns over the lack of a formal statewide aquaculture plan. The resulting fundamental question was what, if any, limits should be placed on shellfish aquaculture production in Rhode Island. The biology subcommittee, in its report, identified specific areas of necessary study before proceeding with a statewide aquaculture plan: water quality, disease, aquatic nuisance species, physical impacts of aquaculture gear, essential fish habitat, carrying capacity, and an ecosystem approach to aquaculture.

This study, which will take approximately two years to complete, will look at carrying capacity in the salt ponds, where a majority of the state’s aquaculture farms are located. David Alves, aquaculture coordinator for the CRMC, is a primary investigator on the study, along with Dr. David Bengtson of URI, Carrie Byron (a URI Ph.D. candidate), Dr. Robert Rheault, an adjunct assistant professor at URI, and Dr. Rubao Ji of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

“The CRMC is very pleased to have received funding in order to conduct this study on carrying capacity with URI,” said CRMC Chairman Michael M. Tikoian. “As aquaculture has grown as an industry, so have concerns about its long term future and the salt ponds in which the farms are located. It is vital for the CRMC to take an active approach in planning for the future of the industry, and this study is a giant step toward that goal.”