Animal Sciences Commons^™

Linking Watershed Loading And Basin-Level Carrying Capacity Models To Evaluate The Effects Of Land Use On Primary Production And Shellfish Aquaculture, Mark Luckenbach, Harry V. Wang

VIMS Articles

Aquaculture production of hard clams, Mercenaria mercenaria, in the lower Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, U.S.A., has increased dramatically within the last decade. In recent years concern has been raised that some growing areas may be approaching the exploitation carrying capacity for clam production. Preliminary calculations indicate that large-scale intensive clam aquaculture may be controlling nutrient and phytoplankton dynamics in this system. To date, carrying capacity models have not been applied to this system, but we are in the process of building models for that purpose. Moreover changing land use in the watersheds surrounding the clam-producing areas raises the need for an …