Marinas and Breakwaters as Fish Habitat PDF
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Marinas and Breakwaters as Fish Habitat Ceara Anne Barker A Thesis submitted to the Department of Civil Engineering in confomity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Science [Engineering) Queen's University Kingston, OntarÏo August 1997 copyright O C. Anne Barker, August 1997 m * I National Library Bibliothèque nationale of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. me Wellington Ottawa ON KI A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de rnicrofiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author' s ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. a~tsrisation. I Marinas and Breakwaters as Fish Habitat , l The approval of a coastal engineering project by the Ontario MinkW of Naturd Resources or the federal Department of F~heriesa nd Oceans depends upon how well the project can mitigate or compensate for losses in productive f ~ har eas. Rubblernound breakwater structures may aid in increasing the divenity and population density of an area. acting as a rnitigation tool, and therefore helping to increase the produciivity of an area. However, it is often difficult to accuratety assess such productivity changes. Also, liitle is known about the activities of fish within a rnan'na environment. The research objective was to document such habitat use in order to compile an initial assessrnent of fsh habitat in marina and breakwater environments, and to compare these results with open shoreline sites along the Kingston waterfront. The results of the study showed that species richness and density at breakwater locations was similar fo open shoreline sites. The ~bblemounds tructures provided shelter, a source of food and created protected environments that were used as nursery habitat. This latter habitat use was unique among the study sites, observed only within the marinas. Overall, these rubblemound breakwaters do not negatively affect biomass, in terrns of the 'No Net Loss' principle. acting as mitigating features for coastal development projects along this developed shoreline. The aquatic ecosystems around such structures can be diverse, productive areos for the species of fish that inhabit these neanhore regions. 1 Marinas and Breakwaters as Fish Habitat I RÉSUMÉ L'approbation d'un projet côtier d'ingénierie par le ministère ontarien des Ressources Naturelles ou le ministère Fédéral des Pêches et Océans dépend de I'éfficacité avec laquelle le projet peut atténuer ou compenser les pertes dans les zones de pokon productives. Les brisdames peuvent favoriser une augmentation de la variété et de la densité de la population d'une zone donnée. Agissant comme un instrument d'atténuation. ces structures confribuent a augmenter la biomasse d'une zone. Toutefois. il est souvent difficile d'en amver à une estimation adéquate de tels changements dans la biomasse. De plus, on connait peu de choses sur le comportement du poisson dans un environnement comme celui d'un port. La recherche visait d'abord a rendre compte de façon rigoureuse de l'adaptation a un tel habitat. et ce. en vue d'établir une première évaluafion du comportement du poisson dans un habitat situé aux environs d'un port ou d'un brise-lames. Ces résultats ont été comparés avec les données concernant les rives dégagées et relativement peu développées le long de la zone littorale de Kingston. Les résultats ont démontrés que la variété et la densité du poisson dans les systèmes aquatiques entourant des structures de brise-lames ressemblent de près u celles que l'on retrouve dans les rives dégages. De telles structures offrent des abris et pourvoient aux besoins en nouniture des poissons en plus de deveir un lieu d'élevage pour le jeune poisson. Cependant, ces lieux d'élevages n'étaient qu'observés dans les porfs. Dans l'ensemble, les structures de brise-lames ne semblent pas affecter la productivité de façon négative, en tenant compte du principe de la "non-perte sèche". Ces structures peuvent agir comme agent atténuant pour des projets de iii Marinas and Breakwaten as Fish Habitat II développement côtier sur cette rive déjà developpe. Les écosystèmes aquatiques entourant de telles structures peuvent favoriser une augmentation de la variété et de la densité d'une espèce de poisson qui fait d'une zone littorale son habitat. L 1 Marinas and Breakwaten as Fish Habitat There are many people who were involved in helping with my research. ail of whom deserve to be recognised for their assistance. I would like to first of al1 thank my supetvisor, Dr. J. W. Kamphuis. for not only providing a new and exciting topic as the focus of my research. but for his guidance throughout. Thank you to Dr. Allen Keast. Professor Emeritus of the Queen's University Biology Department, for al1 of his teachings and assistance, for initiating the counework that was involved and for his advice conceming my research topic. Thanks also fo Dr. Brian Cumming, of the same department, for al1 of his instruction and assistance. A big thank you to Lihua Wang and Kealy Dedman-Smith for their help throughout the summer and fall. when they performed often mundane work without complaint. and contnbuted many important ideas towards my research. Similady, another big thank you to Carol Motheoill, for taking time out of her schedule to help us when we needed her assistance. Thanks also to Julia Purdy and Paul Tschirky for allowing themselves to be dragged out in the moming when I couldn't get many volunteen! And on that note. thanks also go to Mike Fischer for being my swimming buddy on many cold swims over the past two yean. For help with my research. I'd like to thank Neil McLean (MNR), SIeve Knechtel (CRCA). Dr-Rob Nairn (Baird & Associates). Dr.Ken Minns and Bob Randall (CCIW), Alistair Mathers (MNR)a nd Tirn Ramsay (StatLab) who provided rnuch sought after information 1 Marinas and Breakwaten as Fish Habitat and data. Thanks to Dave McCallum (KYC). Leslie Kirnball (City of Kingston). and Pete Chainirain (Dupont). I was able to obfain permission fo conduct my suweys throughout the Kingston waterfront. And thanks too, to the Canadian Coast Guard station empioyees (POH) for providing me with fisheries information and that all-important coffee ai8 am! Thank you to Uoyd Rhymer and Jim Roettger for helping with the design of my wave buoy and to Kevin Lackie for answering my multitude of computing questions dun'ng my time at Queen's. The research was funded by the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Thank you to the Queen's Graduate Studies Department for providing me with a Queen's Graduate Award to support my research. Finally. a massive hug to rny parents for their support (ahem) throughout rny Masten research and to Ryan for understanding exactly! 1 Marinas and Breakwaters as Fish Habitat j ............................................................................................................. Abstract. ii ... ................................................................................................................ Résumé III .......................... ..................................................... Acknowledgements v ...................... ................................................................... Table of Contents vii ..................................................................................................... List of Figures x ..... .............................................................................................. List of Tables xii ,. ... ...................................................................................................... Notation xiii ........................................................................................... Glossary of Terms xiv 1 . O Introduction. ................................................................................................ 1 ....................................................................................................... 1.1 Statement of the Problem 1 .................................................................................................... 1.2 Siudy Objective and Goals 2 ........... .......................... .................................................... 2.0 Literature Review 4 ......... 2.1 The Federal Fisheries Act and The Policy for the Management of Fish Habitat 4 .................................................................................................................. 2.1.1 The Fisheries Act 4 .......................................................... 2.1.2 The Poiicy for the Management of Fish Habitat 6 ................................... .............................. 2.2 Mitigation. Compensation and Classification ,., 7 .................................................................. 2.2.1 Mitigation and Compensation Measures 7 .......................................................................................... 2.2.2 Classification of Fish Habitat 10 2.2.3 Assessing Changes in Productivity .............. .... .............................................................. 13 ................ ............................................................................................ 2.3 Fish and Ash Habitat ,., 16 ..................................... 2.4 Stn'p Counts As A Means of Detennining Densiiy Distributions 17 ........................................... 2.5 Fish Communify Studies Around Marinas and Breakwaters 20 I 1 Marinas and Breakwaten as Fish Habitat ............................................................................................. 3.0 Methodology 27 .......................................................................................................... 3.1 Fish Population Survey 27 ............................. ...... .................................................................................. 3.1.1 Study Sites ., .,. 28 ................ ........................................................................................... 3.1.2 Strip Count Stwdy ,., 34 ......................................................................................................... 3.2 Biomass Determinations 36 .................................................................................................... 3.3 Environmental Conditions 40 ............................................................................................................................. 3.4 Error Analysis 45 ....................................................................................... 3.5 Graphical and Statistical Analysis 47 4.0 Results and Analysis .................... .. ......................................................... 60 ...................................................................................................... 4.1 Species of Fish Observed 60 ......................................................................... 4.1.1 Observational Data 60 ..................................................................................... 4.1.2 Graphical and Statistical Data 65 ............................................................................................................................ 4.2 Habitat Use 69 ........................................................................................................... 4.3 Analysis of Fish Density 72 ................................................................................................................ 4.3.1 Graphical Data 72 4.3.2 Statistical Data. ................................................................................................................. 76 .................................................................................................................... 4.4 Biomass Gtimates 79 ............................................................................................................... 4.4.1. Graphical Data 79 .................................................................................................................. 4.4.2 Statistical Data 81 ............................................................................................... 4.5 Environmental Data Analysis 82 ......................................................................... 4.5.1 Temperature and Population Density 83 ........................................................... 4.5.2 Dissolved Oxygen and Population Density 8 4 ..................................................................................... 4.5.3 pH and Population Density 8 6 ............................................................................ 4.5.4 Wave Data and Population Densify 87 5.0 Discussion .................................. ........... . ............................................ 9 1 ............................................................................................................................... 5.1 Fish Species 91 ...................................... ....................................................................... 5.2 Population Densities 95 ,. .......................................................................................................... 5.3 Statistical Comparisons 98 viii 1 1 Marinas and Breakwaters as Fish Habitat ............................... .,..,.. ................................................................................ 5.4 Nursery Areas 102 ..................................................................................................... 5.5 Engineering Implications 105 ............................................................................................. 6.0 Summary 1 09 ....................... 6.1 Species Richness. Population Densiiy and Environmental Variables 109 ......................................................................................................................... 6.2 Nursery Areas 110 ................. ..........,.............................................................................. .. 6.3 Coastal Engineering 111 ................................................................................. 7.0 Recommendations 1 12 ..................................................................................................... References 1 15 ................................................................................. Selected Bibliography 1 21 - ................................. .......................... Appendix I Study Location Photos 123 - ................................................... ...... . .................. Appendix II Raw Data 1 32 Appendix III - Observational Notes ......................................................... 146 Appendix IV - Regression Analysis Data ........................ .... .............1 52 - .................................................................................... Appendix V Graphs 1 54 - ...................... ... ................... Appendix VI Statistical Analysis of Data 170 ............. ..................... Appendix VII- Environmental Data Analysis 1 94 ................................................................................................................ Vita 1 99
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