karney green beach_mvsg_great marsh symposium
TRANSCRIPT
Demonstration of Living Shoreline Technology &
Development of Ribbed Mussel Seed Production to
Protect and Restore Salt Marsh in Coastal Massachusetts
Martha’s Vineyard
Shellfish Group, Inc.
Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, Inc.
• Non-profit consortium of the 6 town
shellfish departments on MV since 1976
• Based out of a solar hatchery on Lagoon Pond
• Shellfish hatchery produces oysters,
bay scallops and quahogs for municipal enhancement
• Involved in various water quality related projects
• Water is shellfish habitat • Nitrogen is hot topic
Project Rational Shoreline and Island Community threatened by sea level rise & degraded water quality
1) Need to increase coastal marsh for nutrient mitigation and shoreline protection
2) Recognized shortage of ribbed mussel seed - for Living Shorelines and other mitigation projects
Blanchard Photographic Impressions
Ribbed Mussel Geukensia demissa – an under appreciated bivalve
• Superior filtering capacities • Able to consume bacterioplankton
• Wide geographic range and environmental tolerance • Gulf of St. Lawrence to NE Florida • mid-low intertidal
• High controlled by temperature and food availability • Low controlled by refuge from predators i.e. crabs and drills
• Tolerate water temperature > 56C (133F) • Salinity nearly fresh up to 70ppt
• Non-food species allows planting in closed areas
• Critical component of coastal marsh ecology
Predation by oyster drills
Mussels and Marsh Grass – CoEvolution
• Spartina alterniflora provide • Habitat with predator refuge
• Complex settling habitat for larvae
• Detrital food source
• Guekensia provide • Stabilization and armoring with
byssal threads
• Fertilizer and sediment through deposition of biodeposits (feces)
Project Sites • Two low energy
• Muddy Creek (Lagoon Pond)
• Trapps Pond (Sengekontacket)
• Two high energy • Felix Neck (Sengekontacket)
• MVSG Dock (Lagoon Pond)
Mud Creek Nov 2014
• Mussels still where they were planted • Grass mostly intact, going dormant • Mud filling in behind coir log
“Jacuzzi treatment” August 12, 2014
• Mussels air dried for 1-2 days • Nets placed in 400L larvae tanks
• at ambient temperature (~24C) • Overnight
• Recovered 120,000 fertilized eggs! • Subsequent spawns were not
successful • Will start earlier next in 2015
Geukensia larvae
Day 4 100,000 very healthy larva
Belly full of cultured phytoplankton food
Day 2 110,000 early straight-hinge larva
Geukensia - unhealthy and dead larvae
Geukensia with pink staining Pseudomonas bacteria
Day 7: High mortality
BioHaven® Floating Island
• Water quality
• Wave breakers
• Restoration
• Habitat
Will Geukensia attach and grow on this high surface area substrate?