A novel approach to evaluate potential risk of organic enrichment in marine aquaculture farms: a case study in Sanggou Bay

Abstract

A novel approach was proposed to evaluate the potential risk of organic enrichment in marine aquaculture farms without obvious environmental degradation. The approach was based on historical environmental records preserved in sediment cores, and potential risk of organic enrichment can be effectively evaluated by comparing burial fluxes of marine organic carbon (OC_M) during times before and after large-scale aquaculture. A case study was conducted in Sanggou Bay. The change trends on burial fluxes of organic carbon in sediment over the past 150 years were rebuilt. OC_M burial fluxes have greatly increased since the beginning of large-scale aquaculture in 1980s, reaching 16.0~16.5 times higher than that before large-scale aquaculture. The results indicate that aquaculture activities have resulted in obvious accumulation of aquacultural organic matters, although sedimental environment has not degraded seriously. Besides, if the OC_M burial fluxes further increase to 3.5~7.0 times higher than that in present, sedimental environment may degrade obviously. Therefore, potential risks of organic enrichment still exist with aquaculture development in Sanggou Bay.