Title : Monitoring the interactions between offshore mussel farm activities, and the behaviour of the European lobster (Homarus gammarus)
Abstract:
In 2022 England and Wales landed over 3000 tonnes of the European lobster (Homarus gammarus), providing an important protein source, and facilitating jobs. Previous studies have shown that the filter feeding of mussels can be detrimental to the development of juvenile lobsters, while the farms infrastructure provides habitats that mature lobsters use. This project seeks to answer whether offshore mussel farms provide an overall benefit to lobster populations in addition to the other known ecosystem services they provide. We caught and tagged 30 lobsters within an offshore mussel farm (Lyme Regius, UK), where a fine scale array of 40 receivers was deployed. This set-up facilitated the tracking of the fine scale movements of these animals in and around the farm, capturing how the individuals interact with the farm’s infrastructure on a wider scale then previously studied and monitoring how the mussel farm’s day-to-day activities impact lobster behaviour. Additionally, a separate potting study that recorded catch potential between the mussel farm, a local marine protected area, and open unregulated sea, was performed alongside an annual plankton survey to indicate the health of the farm’s lobster population across developmental stages. This project highlights that offshore mussel farms have a net benefit to lobster populations. Similar to marine protected areas, they supply enough food to facilitate the development of lobster populations and support related economic activity. This study should encourage the establishment of offshore mussel farms in areas where ecosystems are at risk of collapse or where lobster and other fish stocks are nearing depletion in order to ensure food security and provide reliable work for both commercial and artisanal fisheries in the area.
