There is a new data collection device on the Hurricane Island aquaculture site!
On Hurricane Island, the research interests are concerned with scallops, and in particular, scallop spawning. Scallops are called broadcast spawners, meaning they release their gametes (eggs and sperm) into the water and hope they find each other to fertilize the egg and develop into larvae. Understanding flow speed and direction at aquaculture and wild scallop sites during the spawning season could provide valuable information about where scallop gametes and larvae go immediately after dispersal. Additionally, given that scallops are filter feeders and rely on fluid flow to feed, future growth and biological studies on the site and at wild sites could utilize the TCM-1. The goal this late summer and early fall is to collect flow speed and direction data during a spawning event on our site.
The research site is a unique location for flow due to the large tides and the ledges that protect the western and eastern edges. This summer, the research team deployed the TCM-1 in an inverted position from our float at the aquaculture site, which provided near surface velocity data. It was also deployed in a floating position on the bottom. During their life on an aquaculture farm, scallops might experience many different flow speeds at different depths in the water column. Scallops kept in bottom cages (40 ft deep) might experience a different flow regime than those kept in our lantern nets, which are approximately 15 feet below the surface.
Read more about this deployment and the data collected.
January 25, 2022 update - additional data analysis from the fall deployment
