Spatial trends in aquaculture potential in the South and East inshore and offshore marine plan areas

222 Pages·2013·9.43 MB·English

by  Marine Management Organisation

Spatial trends in
aquaculture potential
in the South and East
inshore and offshore
marine plan areas

December 2013
This page has been intentionally left blank.
Spatial trends in aquaculture potential in the South
and East Inshore and Offshore Marine Plan Areas

MMO Project No: 1040

Project funded by: The Marine Management Organisation

Report prepared by: Marine Planning Consultants Ltd
© Marine Management Organisation 2013

This publication (excluding the logos) may be re-used free of charge in any format or
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Disclaimer

This report contributes to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) evidence base
which is a resource developed through a large range of research activity and methods
carried out by both the MMO and external experts.

The opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the MMO
nor are they intended to indicate how the MMO will act on a given set of facts or signify
any preference for one research activity or method over another. The MMO is not liable
for the accuracy or completeness of the information contained nor is it responsible for
any use of the content.

This report should be cited as

MMO (2013). Spatial trends in aquaculture potential in the South and East Inshore and
Offshore Marine Plan Areas. A report produced for the Marine Management
Organisation, pp 202. MMO Project No: 1040. ISBN: 978-1-909452-18-3.

First published November 2013.
Contents
Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... 1 

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 3 
1.1 Project statement .................................................................................................. 3 
1.2 Requirement for this project .................................................................................. 3 
1.3 Project objectives .................................................................................................. 3 
1.4 Final project outputs .............................................................................................. 4 
1.5 Geographic scope ................................................................................................. 5 
1.6 Cultivation types and species ................................................................................ 6

2. Methodology .............................................................................................................. 8 
2.1 Literature review ................................................................................................... 8 
2.2 Stakeholder consultation ....................................................................................... 8 
2.3 Development of the spatial model ......................................................................... 9 
2.4 Mapped data inputs............................................................................................. 10 
2.5 Delineating areas with potential for aquaculture development ............................ 11 
2.6 Accounting for investment dependent constraints ............................................... 15 
2.7 Assessing the economic potential ....................................................................... 15 
2.8 Quality assurance ............................................................................................... 15 
2.9 Repeatability ....................................................................................................... 16 
2.10 Compliance with MEDIN metadata standards ................................................... 17 
2.11 Taxonomic nomenclature .................................................................................. 17

3. Natural Resource Requirements ............................................................................ 18 
3.1 Bottom culture of bivalve shellfish ....................................................................... 18 
3.1.1 Temperature.................................................................................................. 19 
3.1.2 Salinity .......................................................................................................... 20 
3.1.3 Substrate ....................................................................................................... 20 
3.1.4 Exposure to air .............................................................................................. 20 
3.1.5 Wave/tidal exposure ...................................................................................... 21 
3.1.6 Water quality ................................................................................................. 21 
3.1.7 Depth ............................................................................................................ 21
3.2 Trestle/bag culture of bivalve shellfish ................................................................ 22 
3.2.1 Temperature.................................................................................................. 22 
3.2.2 Salinity .......................................................................................................... 24 
3.2.3 Substrate ....................................................................................................... 24 
3.2.4 Exposure to air .............................................................................................. 24 
3.2.5 Wave/tidal exposure ...................................................................................... 24 
3.2.6 Water quality ................................................................................................. 24 
3.2.7 Depth ............................................................................................................ 24 
3.3 Rope/line grown bivalve shellfish ........................................................................ 26 
3.3.1 Temperature.................................................................................................. 27 
3.3.2 Salinity .......................................................................................................... 27 
3.3.3 Substrate ....................................................................................................... 27 
3.3.4 Wave/tidal exposure ...................................................................................... 27 
3.3.5 Water quality ................................................................................................. 27 
3.3.6 Depth ............................................................................................................ 27 
3.4 Macroalgae production ........................................................................................ 29 
3.4.1 Light .............................................................................................................. 29 
3.4.2 Temperature.................................................................................................. 29 
3.4.3 Salinity .......................................................................................................... 30 
3.4.4 Substrate ....................................................................................................... 30 
3.4.5 Wave/tidal exposure ...................................................................................... 30 
3.4.6 Water quality ................................................................................................. 30 
3.4.7 Depth ............................................................................................................ 30 
3.5 Hatchery reared lobster ....................................................................................... 32 
3.6 Marine finfish cage culture .................................................................................. 33 
3.6.1 Water quality ................................................................................................. 35 
3.6.2 Dissolved oxygen .......................................................................................... 36 
3.6.4 Temperature.................................................................................................. 37 
3.6.5 Wave/tidal exposure ...................................................................................... 37 
3.6.6 Depth ............................................................................................................ 37 
3.6.7 Substrate ....................................................................................................... 37 
3.7. Natural Resource Model Inputs .......................................................................... 39 
3.7.1 Water quality ................................................................................................. 39 
3.7.2 Temperature.................................................................................................. 39
3.7.3 Salinity .......................................................................................................... 39 
3.7.4 Wave and tidal exposure ............................................................................... 40 
3.7.5 Substrate ....................................................................................................... 42 
3.7.6 Depth and distance offshore ......................................................................... 44 
3.7.7 Confidence assessment ................................................................................ 47

4. Planning Constraints Affecting Developments .................................................... 49 
4.1 Protected sites .................................................................................................... 49 
4.2 Effects on species, habitats and ecosystems ...................................................... 50 
4.2.1 Mobile species .............................................................................................. 50 
4.2.2 Sensitive benthic habitats ............................................................................. 51 
4.2.3 Water quality ................................................................................................. 51 
4.2.4 Carrying capacity .......................................................................................... 52 
4.2.5 Non-native invasive species .......................................................................... 53 
4.2.6 Fish disease .................................................................................................. 54 
4.3 Existing infrastructure and marine developments ............................................... 54 
4.4 Recreation and tourism ....................................................................................... 54 
4.5 Fishing (catch sector) including Several and Regulatory Order areas ................ 55 
4.6 Visual impact ....................................................................................................... 55 
4.7 Historic culture .................................................................................................... 56 
4.8 Constraint types applied in the spatial model ...................................................... 56 
4.8.1 Use of buffers/separation distances for impact assessment ......................... 58 
4.8.2 Consideration of intensity .............................................................................. 58 
4.8.3 Exclusion areas ............................................................................................. 58 
4.8.4 Areas of least resistance ............................................................................... 59 
4.8.5 Potential to co-exist ....................................................................................... 60

5. Proximity to Essential Infrastructure ..................................................................... 61 
5.1 Proximity to suitable landing ports ...................................................................... 61 
5.2 Hatchery locations ............................................................................................... 62 
5.3 Location of purification units ................................................................................ 62 
5.4 Location of processing plants .............................................................................. 63 
5.5 Location of potential business base .................................................................... 63 
5.6 Proximity to invasive non-native species ............................................................. 63
6. Economic and Commercial Considerations for Aquaculture Development ...... 64 
6.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 64 
6.2 Model Selection .................................................................................................. 65 
6.3 Pen/Cage Culture ............................................................................................... 66 
6.4 Salmon culture .................................................................................................... 67 
6.5 Halibut culture ..................................................................................................... 68 
6.6 Cod culture .......................................................................................................... 69 
6.7 Mussels (bottom and rope grown) ....................................................................... 69 
6.8 Oysters ................................................................................................................ 70 
6.9 Clams .................................................................................................................. 71 
6.10 Lobster restocking ............................................................................................. 72 
6.11 Rope grown macroalgae ................................................................................... 73 
6.12 Rope grown scallops ......................................................................................... 74 
6.13 Market prices .................................................................................................... 76 
6.14 Multipliers, Impact and Employment ................................................................. 77 
6.15 Key outputs from cost benefit analysis .............................................................. 77 
6.16 Conclusions on economic and commercial considerations ............................... 79

7. Modelled Potential for Aquaculture Development ................................................ 80 
7.1 Natural resource suitability .................................................................................. 80 
7.2 Planning and infrastructure constraints ............................................................... 94 
7.3 Areas suitable for aquaculture development and relative investment required . 107 
7.5 Key outputs from model .................................................................................... 127

8. Conclusions and Recommendations .................................................................. 129 
8.1 Model Benefits and Limitations ......................................................................... 129 
8.1.1. Water quality, temperature and salinity ...................................................... 129 
8.1.2 Visual impacts ............................................................................................. 130 
8.1.3 Marine recreation ........................................................................................ 130 
8.1.4 Size and spacing of aquaculture sites ......................................................... 130 
8.1.5 Carrying capacity and production levels ...................................................... 131 
8.1.6 Seabed sediments ...................................................................................... 132 
8.1.7 Interactions with mobile species .................................................................. 132
8.1.8 Interactions with the commercial fishing (catch) sector ............................... 133 
8.1.9 Modelling ‘aquaculture types’ ...................................................................... 133 
8.2 Recommendations for further development of the model .................................. 134 
8.2.1 Improve the aquaculture knowledge base ................................................... 134 
8.2.2 Improve and expand the model input data .................................................. 136 
8.2.3 Model trials .................................................................................................. 140 
8.2.4 Expand the geographic scope ..................................................................... 140 
8.3 Critical assessment of modelling approach ....................................................... 140 
8.4 Commercial risk caveats ................................................................................... 141

9. References ............................................................................................................. 143

Annex 1: Summary of Existing Aquaculture Models ................................................... 158 
Annex 2: Stakeholder Questionnaire .......................................................................... 160 
Annex 3: Summary of the Model Input Data Layers and Constraint Levels Applied .. 165 
Annex 4: Confidence Assessment Criteria and Scoring ............................................. 173 
Annex 5: List of Species Names, Authorities and Synonymised Taxa* ...................... 186 
Annex 6: EC Directive 79/923/EEC Quality Standards for Shellfish Growing Waters 193 
Annex 7: Sensitivity Matrix for Species and Habitats ................................................. 195 
Annex 9: Sample Frequency Distribution Demonstrating the Application of Natural
Breaks .......................................................................................................... 201 
Annex 10: Sample Frequency Distribution of Planning Constraint Scores ................. 202
Figures
Figure 1: The East Inshore (3) and Offshore (4) Marine Plan Areas. ............................. 5 
Figure 2: The South Inshore (6) and Offshore (7) Marine Plan Areas. ........................... 6 
Figure 3: Flow diagram of the model developed in this project. ................................... 12 
Figure 4: Step one of the natural resource selection process in GIS. Substrate labelled
as “rock”, water depths between 10 and 30m and exposure labelled as
“sheltered” and “moderate” were selected for lobster re-stocking. ...................... 13 
Figure 5: Step two of the natural resource selection process in GIS. New areas were
created based on the overlapping suitability, and used as the basis for attributing
potential natural resource for lobster re-stocking. ............................................... 14 
Figure 6: Photographs of bottom cultured mussels (Mytilus edulis) being harvested in
Poole. ................................................................................................................. 19 
Figure 7: Trestle cultivation of native oysters at Jersey Sea Farms using the Ortac
system. ............................................................................................................... 22 
Figure 8: Mussels being grown on ropes off the west coast of Scotland. ..................... 26 
Figure 9: A juvenile lobster that has been on-grown in a cage at sea. ......................... 32 
Figure 10: An Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, farm on the Island of Skye. ..................... 35 
Figure 11: Chart showing the combined seabed energy across the East Inshore and
Offshore Marine Plan Areas as determined by UKSeaMap 2010 (McBreen, et al.,
2010). ................................................................................................................. 41 
Figure 12: Chart showing the combined seabed energy across the South Inshore and
Offshore Marine Plan Areas as determined by UKSeaMap 2010 (McBreen, et al.,
2010). ................................................................................................................. 42 
Figure 13: Chart showing the seabed sediments across the East Inshore and Offshore
marine Plan Areas as determined by UKSeaMap 2010 (McBreen, et al., 2010). 43 
Figure 14: Chart showing the seabed sediments across the South Inshore and Offshore
Marine Plan Areas as determined by UKSeaMap 2010 (McBreen, et al., 2010). 44 
Figure 15: Chart showing the seabed bathymetry across the East Inshore and Offshore
Marine Plan Areas based on the Marine Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the
British Isles (Defra, 2011). .................................................................................. 46