Publication - Progress report
Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science Volume 3 Number 6: Development of a GIS based Aquaculture Decision Support Tool (ADST) to determine the potential benthic impacts associated with the expansion of salmon farming in Scottish sea lochs
This paper presents a GIS based aquaculture decision
support tool (ADST) to assist with planning the sustainable development of the aquaculture
industry in Scotland.
Glossary of Acronyms and Symbols
| Acronym | Meaning |
|---|---|
| A (15-70m) | Area in a sea loch that is between the 15 m and 70 m depth contours, as calculated by the ADST (km 2) |
| ADST | High Level GIS Decision Support Tool |
| A L | Total area of seabed within each sea loch that was leased to fish farms (km 2) |
 |
Average total leased area in all sea lochs (km 2) |
| A LW | Surface area of sea loch calculated at mean low water |
| A REQ | Area required in each sea loch to produce B TMAX (km 2) |
| AZE | Allowable Zone of Effect |
| B | Total biomass consented to be held in a sea loch by the CAR licences issued by SEPA (t) |
| B C | Current total consented biomass |
| B CMAX | Maximum potential biomass considering the maximum peak C-flux beneath the sites in a sea loch (t) |
| BI | Benthic Impact |
| BI L | Benthic impact Limit threshold for ECE_MOD.m model (10 % Sea loch area) |
| BI pa | Benthic impact Precautionary threshold for ECE_MOD.m model (8 % Sea loch area) |
| B MAX | The most limiting value for the maximum potential biomass in each sea loch from all the calculations (t) |
| B SMAX | Maximum potential biomass in each sea loch, taking SEPA modelling restrictions into consideration ( i.e. 2500 t per site) (t) |
| B TMAX | Theoretical maximum biomass of farmed fish in a sea loch, such that the precautionary limits for nutrient enhancement and benthic impact were not exceeded (t) |
| CAR | Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 |
| ECE | Equilibrium Concentration Enhancement ( ECE) of nutrients. The ECE is the extra concentration that would occur if a steady input of nutrients were to be balanced by steady removal by seawater exchange. Use by algae is ignored (µmol N l -1) |
| ECE.bas | Model used in the 'Locational Guidelines' to predict the ECE and % degraded areas |
| ECE_MOD.m | ECE.bas model modified in 'MatLab' to calculate the maximum fish biomass that can be produced in a sea loch before the precautionary levels of nutrient enhancement and benthic impact are breached |
| ECE L | Nutrient Enrichment Indicator: Limit Threshold for ECE_MOD.m model (µmol N l -1) |
| ECE pa | Nutrient Enrichment Indicator: Precautionary threshold for ECE_MOD.m model (µmol N l -1) |
| GIS | Geographic Information System |
| ICES | International Council for the Exploration of the Sea |
| LW Area | Surface area of sea loch calculated at mean low water |
| MaRS | Crown Estate's GIS based Marine Resource System |
| MSS | Marine Scotland Science |
| MSS_BI.m | ECE.bas model modified in 'MatLab' to calculate the maximum fish biomass that can be produced at a fish farm site before the c-flux threshold is breached (in this case 7 kgC m -2 yr -1) |
| n E | Number of existing sites in a sea loch before the ADST |
| n P | Number sites predicted in each sea loch by the ADST |
| P | Annual total tonnage of fish produced (t yr -1) |
| PADA | Potential Aquaculture Development Areas |
| P d | average value for production per km 2 (t km -2) |
 |
Average annual production (t yr -1) |
| SAMS | Scottish Association for Marine Science |
| SEPA | Scottish Environmental Protection Agency |
| SSPO | Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation |
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