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Shellfish aquaculture farms as foraging habitat for nearshore fishes and crabs
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2024
Source: Marine and Coastal Fisheries, 16(2)
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Journal Title:Marine and Coastal Fisheries
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Description:Oyster reefs across North America have declined precipitously over the past 140 years. In Washington State, Olympia oyster Ostrea lurida reefs historically provided water filtration and nearshore structural habitat for fishes and invertebrates, but this species is now functionally extinct across its historical range. In place of these naturally occurring reefs, shellfish farms consisting mainly of nonnative Pacific oysters Magallana gigas now occupy patches of nearshore habitat across Washington. These farms modify intertidal substrate by adding structural habitat via suspended oyster grow bags, predator exclusion nets, loose oyster beds, and other shellfish grow‐out gear. As interest and investment in shellfish aquaculture have expanded both locally and globally, so has interest in how these farms modify intertidal habitat and whether the complex structure created by the shellfish and shellfish growing gear provides ecosystem services that are comparable to those of unfarmed areas, such as mudflats and eelgrass meadows.
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Source:Marine and Coastal Fisheries, 16(2)
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ISSN:1942-5120;1942-5120;
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Rights Information:CC BY
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Compliance:Submitted
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