Infaunal communities associated to the razor clam Ensis macha: water-jet fishing impact
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.17.27.3.0.552Abstract
Razor clams (genus Ensis) are exploited worldwide through a variety of fishing gears. The environmental impacts produced by these fisheries include changes in the sediment physical characteristics and the water column, as well as the effects on the associated communities and on the target species. The impact mainly depends on the fishing gear, the type of habitat and the fishing intensity. San José gulf (Península Valdés, Chubut) fishermen use the water-jet technique, which involves the injection of water into the substrate to extract the razor clams. Although the exploitation of this resource in the San José gulf is still incipient, it is important to study the impact of this fishery in order to establish appropriate management measures to related the technique used and to the gulf environment, before the fishery grows. Thus, the aim of this study was to experimentally evaluate the impact of Ensis macha water-jet fishing on the benthic communities associated with its beds in San José gulf. The composition of the benthic fauna was compared in two beds, one with extractive activity and another as control, at the time of fishing and after a year. Comparisons showed no differences in the initial time between the impacted bed and the control one, while after a year of the fishing activity the differences in the communities’ composition of both beds were significant. The control bed was characterized by polychaetes, amphipods and stomatopods, while the bivalves and gastropods were representative of the impacted bed. The results found are useful in suggesting conservation and management measures to avoid degradation of local biodiversity.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.17.27.3.0.552
References
Almany, G. R. 2004. Does increased habitat complexity reduce predation and competition in coral reef fish assemblages? Oikos 106:275-284.
Anderson, M. J., R. N. Gorley, and K. R. Clarke. 2008. PERMANOVA+ for PRIMER: guide to software and statistical methods. PRIMER-E, Plymouth, United Kingdom.
Bacci, T., B. Trabucco, S. Marzialetti, V. Marusso, S. Lomiri, D. Vani, and C. Virno Lamberti. 2009. Taxonomic sufficiency in two case studies: where does it work better? Mar Ecol 30:13-19.
Bishop, M. J., C. H. Peterson, and H. C. Summerson. 2005. Effects of harvesting methods on sustainability of a bay scallop fishery: dredging uproots seagrass and displaces recruits Fishery Bull 103:712-719.
Ciocco, N. F. 1995. La marisquería mediante buceo en el Golfo San José (Chubut, Argentina). Informes Técnicos del PMIZCP, GEF-PNUD-FPN 21:1-39.
Ciocco, N. F. 2000. Almeja Panopea, un nuevo recurso pesquero para el mar argentino. Infopesca Int 6:36-39.
De Biasi, A. M., C. N. Bianchi, and C. Morri. 2003. Analysis of macrobenthic communities at different taxonomic levels: an example from an estuarine environment in the Ligurian Sea (NW Mediterranean). Est Coast Shelf Sci 58:99-106.
Díez, I., A. Santolaria, and J. M. Gorostiaga. 2003. The relationship of environmental factors to the structure and distribution of subtidal seaweed vegetation of the western Basque coast (N Spain). Est Coast Shelf Sci 56:1041-1054.
Ellis, D. 1985. Taxonomic sufficiency in pollution assessment. Mar Poll Bull 16:459.
Espinoza, R., J. Tarazona, and J. Laudien. 2010. Overfishing population characteristics of razor clam, Ensis macha, from Independencia Bay, Peru, in 2004 year. Revista Peruana de Biología 17:285-292.
Gaspar, M. B., R. Constantino, A. Guerra Díaz, and S. Carvalho. 2011. Environmental impacts of razor clam fisheries. Pp. 227-269 en Guerra Díaz, A., C. Lodeiros Seijo, M. B. Gaspar, and F. da Costa González (eds.). Razor clams: biology, aquaculture and fisheries. Xunta de Galicia.
Hall, S. J., D. J. Basford, and M. R. Robertson. 1990. The impact of hydraulic dredging for Razor clams Ensis sp. on an infaunal community. Netherland J Sea Res 27:119-125.
Hall, S. J. 1994. Physical disturbance and marine benthic communities: Life in unconsolidated sediments. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 32:179-239.
Lasta, M., N. F. Ciocco, C. Bremen, and A. Roux. 1998. Moluscos bivalvos y gasterópodos. Pp. 115-142 en Boschi, E. E. (ed.). El mar argentino y sus recursos Pesqueros, 2. INIDEP, Mar del Plata.
Lenihan, H. S., and F. Micheli 2001. Soft-sediment communities. Pp. 253-287 en Bertness, M. D., Gaines S. D. and Hay M. E. (eds.). Marine community ecology. Sunderland, M. A. Sinauer Associates, Inc.
Morsán, E., and N. F. Ciocco. 2011. Razor clam fishing in Patagonia, Argentina. Pp. 405-416 en Guerra Díaz, A., C. Lodeiros Seijo, M. B. Gaspar and F. da Costa González (eds.). Razor clams: biology, aquaculture and fisheries. Xunta de Galicia.
Rivas, A. L. 2009. Heat Balance and annual variation of mean temperature in the North-Patagonian gulfs. Oceanologica Acta 13:265-272.
Plicanti, A., R. Domínguez, S. F. Dubois, and I. Bertocci. 2016. Human impacts on biogenic habitats: Effects of experimental trampling on Sabellaria alveolata (Linnaeus, 1767) reefs. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 478:34-44.
Robinson, R. F., and C. A. Richardson. 1998. The direct and indirect effects of suction dredging on a razor clam (Ensis arcuatus) population. ICES J Mar Sci 55:970-977.
Robledo, J., and S. Van der Molen. 2012. Fauna asociada a los bancos de almeja navaja en playa Villarino, Golfo San José (Chubut). VIII Jornadas Nacionales de Ciencias el Mar, Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina.
Sousa, R., Gutiérrez, J. L., and D. C. Aldridge. 2009. Non-indigenous invasive bivalves as ecosystem engineers. Biol Invasions 11:2367-2385.
Tuck, I. D., N. Bailey, M. Harding, G. Sangster, T. Howell, N. Graham, and N. Breen. 2000. The impact of water jet dredging for razor clams, Ensis spp., in a shallow sandy subtidal environment. J Sea Res 43:65-81.
Witbaard, R., Bergman, M. J., van Weerlee, E., and G. C. Duineveld. 2016. An estimation of the effects of Ensis directus on the transport and burial of silt in the near-shore Dutch coastal zone of the North Sea. J Sea Res 127:95-104.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 María M. Méndez, Jorgelina Robledo, Silvina Van der Molen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Authors retain their rights as follows: 1) by granting the journal the right to its first publication, and 2) by registering the published article with a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which allows authors and third parties to view and use it as long as they clearly mention its origin (citation or reference, including authorship and first publication in this journal). Authors can make other non-exclusive distribution agreements as long as they clearly indicate their origin and are encouraged to widely share and disseminate the published version of their work.
