Northern Irish sea-loughs

Electrical conductivity of the water column; Chlorophyll pigment concentrations in water bodies; Dissolved oxygen parameters in the water column; Fishery characterisation; Nitrate concentration parameters in the water column; Phosphate concentration parameters in the water column; Primary production in the water column; Salinity of the water column; Silicate concentration parameters in the water column; Temperature of the water column; Fish and shellfish catch statistics

Discrete water samplers; sediment grabs; CTD; rock dredges

The key objectives of SMILE are: 1. To establish functional models at the lough scale, describing key environmental variables and processes, aquaculture activities and their interactions; 2. To evaluate exploitation carrying capacities (i.e. the standing stock at which the annual production of the marketable cohort is maximized) for aquaculture in the different loughs, considering interactions between cultivated species, for normal and alternative cultivation practises (i.e. marketable size of cultured organisms, cultivation period etc.); 3. To examine the effects of overexploitation on key ecological variables; 4. To examine bay-scale environmental effects of different culture strategies.

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland
Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science Centre, Newforge Lane
Belfast
Co Antrim
BT4 3SB
United Kingdom