Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2008DE121B

Water Quality and Bacterial Monitoring at Delaware Inland Bays Oyster Gardening Sites, Delaware

Institute: Delaware
Year Established: 2008 Start Date: 2008-03-01 End Date: 2009-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $3,500 Total Non-Federal Funds: $7,000

Principal Investigators: Christen Dillard, Gulnihal Ozbay

Project Summary: Oyster restoration in heavily degraded habitats with small or non-existent oyster populations may require a multifaceted approach. Delaware's coastal lagoons, or inland bays, have been experiencing the impacts of sustained nutrient input and sediment erosion resulting from several decades of development within the watershed. Oysters increase water clarity by filtering sediments and algae, and potentially remove nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous. Oyster aquaculture can provide many of the same ecological services as oyster reefs and are valuable component of estuaries worldwide, providing a unique habitat for many ecologically and economically important species. Using shellfish as a water quality indicator has proven to be successful in water quality monitoring due to the bioaccumulation of different types of microorganisms that may be present in their surrounding environment. In addition to water quality monitoring, oysters are also commonly tested for seafood safety purposes. The objectives of this study are: (i) to monitor water quality for physical (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity, ORP, conductivity), chemical (ammonia, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, nitrite, turbidity, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids), and biological (total chlorophyll-a) parameters at selected oyster gardening sites; and (ii) to evaluate the total bacteria and Vibrionaceae levels in Crassostrea virginica grown at the selected oyster gardening sites