Animal Sciences Commons^™

Bivalve Molluscs: Barometers Of Climate Change In Arctic Marine Systems, Roger Mann, Daphne M. Munroe, Eric N. Powell, Eileen E. Hoffmann, John M. Klinck

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Bivalve mollusks store a complete history of their life in the growth lines in their valves. Through sclerochronology, in combination with isotope signatures, it is possible to reconstruct both post-recruitment growth history at the individual level and commensurate environmental records of temperature and salinity. Growth patterns are integrators of local primary productivity; spatial and temporal changes in growth illustrate commensurate patterns of food availability. Mactrid clams are long-lived, benthic dominant species found on inner continental shelves throughout the Northern Hemisphere where they variously support major fisheries (Spisula solidissima in the Mid-Atlantic Bight, Mactromeris polynyma in eastern Canada, Spisula sachalinensis …

Constraints On Sustainable Marine Fisheries In The United States: A Look At The Record, John A. Musick, Julia K. Ellis

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The factors that may either constrain or contribute to sustainable marine fisheries were examined by reviewing and analyzing the history and current status of several U.S. fisheries. Among major factors under consideration are inherent vulnerability (vulnerability in some species is high because of low intrinsic rates of increase and/or naturally infrequent recruitment); environmental degradation (fisheries may collapse because of anthropogenic habitat destruction); availability of data (information necessary co conduce accurate stock assessments may be inadequate for some species); quality of the scientific advice (inappropriate models or scientifically inaccurate assessments may be used); and effectiveness of management decisions (managers may disregard …

The Evolution Of The Chesapeake Oyster Reef System During The Holocene Epoch, William J. Hargis Jr.

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The oyster industries of Virginia and Maryland were based upon adult and juvenile oysters, and their shells, produced naturally on the reefs of the Chesapeake oyster reef system. Without those reefs the billions of bushels of live oysters and shells taken by humans could neither have been produced naturally nor harvested and the valuable social and economic activities derived therefrom would never have occurred.

The origin and development of the formerly massive, naturally self-renewing Chesapeake reef system were directly associated with the evolution of the Bay. Its destruction can be linked primarily to the increase of humans around the Bay …

Small-Scale Patterns Of Recruitment On A Constructed Intertidal Reef: The Role Of Spatial Refugia, Ian K. Bartol, Roger Mann

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Traditional oyster repletion activities have utilized a two-dimensional approach to shell (substrate) deployment to attain maximal coverage in subtidal locations with little consideration for optimal thickness of deployed shell and tidal elevation. Vertical dimensionality may play a vital role, however, in the establishment and persistence of oyster communities. Therefore, a three-dimensional oyster reef was constructed in the Piankatank River, Virginia, and settlement and mortality patterns of oysters were recorded from June of 1993 through September of 1994.

Oyster Restoration Efforts In Virginia, James Wesson, Roger L. Mann, Mark Luckenbach

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Long-term restoration of the Virginia Oyster resource has been assisted by a series of governmental and regulatory initiatives. Following the 1990 Blue Ribbon Panel the Virginia Marine Resources Commission set as goals that the oyster resources and oyster fishery would be so managed as to achieve (a) no net loss of existing standing stock of the native oyster over the next five years, and (b) a doubling of the existing standing stock of the native oyster over the next ten years. The 1994 Chesapeake Bay Aquatic Reef Plan and Oyster Fishery Management Plan both recommended the creation of 5,000 acres …

Materials Processing By Oysters In Patches: Interactive Roles Of Current Speed And Seston Composition, Deborah A. Harsh, Mark W. Luckenbach

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Filtration rates for oysters have typically been measure in still water laboratory experiments and ecosystem-level effects estimated by extrapolation. With the exception of in situ measures of oyster filtration by Dame (1999, Chapter 18, this volume and references cited therein) these estimates have failed to account for the effects of hydrodynamic effects on oyster filtration rates and on physical redistribution of particles. In this chapter we report on a series of experiments conducted in a recirculating seawater flume designed to address the effects of flow speed and seston composition on filtration rates in a bed of oysters. In six separate …

Use Of Dredged Material For Oyster Habitat Creation In Coastal Virginia, Walter I. Priest Iii, Janet Neslerode, Christopher W. Frye

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Dredging can have a beneficial effect on oyster habitat when the placement of the dredged material is effectively managed to help provide the bottom structure necessary to develop an oyster reef. Construction and maintenance of the Waterway on the Coast of Virginia (WCV) by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has provided a number of examples of this process, both serendipitous and deliberate. The historical development of reefs that evolved from the random overboard placement of dredged material and the subsequent leasing of these areas for oyster cultivation is reviewed. A monitoring plan for the development of a …

Chesapeake Oyster Reefs, Their Importance, Destruction And Guidelines For Restoring Them, William J. Hargis Jr., Dexter S. Haven

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin), can live any place in coastal marine and estuarine waters of the North American east coast offering suitable setting and survival opportunities. It occurs singly or in small clumps scattered widely but thrives best in colonial aggregations which, like those of tropical corals, are truly reefs. The massive self-renewing oyster reefs ("whole banks and beds") reported by early Chesapeake observers have yielded much. Without readily accessible oyster reefs the first English colonists of Jamestown might have starved. Without them the rich oyster industries of later years could never have developed.But oyster reefs benefitted the …

Trends In Shark Abundance From 1974 To 1991 For The Chesapeake Bight Region Of The U.S. Mid-Atlantic Coast, John A. Musick, Steven Branstetter, James A. Colvocoresses

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Recent stock assessments indicate that the shark stock of the western North Atlantic is exploited at a rate twice the maximum sustainable yield. This finding is supported by data generated by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science longline program for sharks of the. Chesapeake Bay and adjacent coastal waters. Trends in catch per unit of effort since 1974 indicate 60-80% reductions in population size for the common species - sandbar (Carcharhinus plumbeus) , dusky (C. obscurus) , sand tiger (Odontaspis taurus), and tiger (Galeocerdo cuvier) sharks. Declines include numbers of individuals for all species, size classes within species, and in …

Hard Clam Mercenaria Mercenaria, G. Curtis Roegner, Roger L. Mann

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The hard clam is found along the eastern coast of North America from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Texas. In Chesapeake Bay, the hard clam is restricted to salinities above approximately 12 ppt. An extensive survey of hard clam resources is overdue.

Statements concerning long term trends in populations are not feasible. Hard clams ·grow to a maximum shell length of about 120 mm. There are few documented cases of diseases in wild hard clam populations. Parasitic infestations are also slight. The life cycle of the hard clam includes a pelagic larval phase and a relatively sedentary benthic juvenile …

Early Life-History Implications Of Selected Carcharhinoid And Lamnoid Sharks Of The Northwest Atlantic, Steven Branstetter

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The size of most newborn sharks makes them susceptible to predation from their own kind and other large fishes. In the northwestern Atlantic, juvenile nursery grounds can be generally classified according to whether or not the young are exposed to such predatory risk. Several related factors-breeding frequency, litter size, size at birth, early growth rate-may help offset early natural mortality. These factors are counterbalanced by the different species in several different ways, producing numerous early life history strategies. In general, slow growing species are either born at relatively large sizes or use protected nursery grounds, whereas faster growing species tend …

Western North Atlantic Shark-Fishery Management Problems And Informational Requirements, Thomas B. Hoff, John A. Musick

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) has primary responsibility for the development ofihe Western North Atlantic Shark Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Currently, there is a consensus among the five East Coast Councils that an FMP for sharks should be prepared. The current concerns focus on many of the same issues that were germane a decade ago when a shark FMP was initiated and then halted mainly because of inadequate information. These issues include 1) an expanded, nondiscriminant, commercial longline fishery ; (2) an existing and rapidly expanding recreational fishery; (3) concern for the extensive waste which occurs from both recreational …

The American Oyster Crassostrea Virginica In Cheapeake Bay, Dexter Haven

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

The American Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is widely distributed in Chesapeake Bay where it grows in the intertidal zone to depths of about 6.5 m. The salinity range over which it occurs, is from about 5 to 34 ° /oo. It is most abundant in protected embayments where bottoms are a firm sand-clay mixed with shelly material. This bivalve is a filter feeder, and ingests planktonic material which it strains from the water with its gills. Spawning occurs in Chesapeake Bay from June through September, and the eggs and resulting larvae are widely distributed during their 10-20 day planktonic life.

Growth …

Recent Studies In The United States On Parasites And Pathogens Of Marine Mollusks, With Emphasis On Diseases Of The American Oyster, Crassostrea Virginica Gmelin, William J. Hargis Jr.

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Morphological, systematic, faunal, and life cycle studies predominated research on marine parasites and pathogens in the United States before World War II. Much was primarily basic or academic in nature. Since then it has grown and diversified under pressure or efforts to: I) Increase yields or invertebrate-based fisheries, In nature and under controlled conditions; and 2) understand , protect, and improve the resources, estuarine and marine environments, and human health and welfare. Over the last 30 yr pathobiologlcal investigations of economically and ecologically important marine Invertebrates have broadened into submlcroscopcal anatomy (TEM and SEM technlques), physiology, Immunology, genetics, host-parasite ecology, …

Blue Crab Mortalities Associated With Pesticides, Herbicides, Temperature, Salinity, And Dissolved Oxygen, Willard A. Van Engel

VIMS Books and Book Chapters

Commercial fisheries landings of the blue crab in the Chesapeake Bay have fluctuated widely since the late 1920s (Figure I). Records of annual landings prior to 1929 are sparse and permit little more than a guess of trends, although a discontinuous series of catch records from 1907 to 1926 from individual watermen, on file at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), may provide sufficient baseline data for interpretations or estimates of trends in the early period.