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Aquaculture and urban marine structures facilitate native and non-indigenous species transfer through generation and accumulation of marine debris
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Aquaculture and urban marine structures facilitate native and non-indigenous species transfer through generation and accumulation of marine debris

M.L. Campbell, S. King, L.D. Heppenstall, E. van Gool, R. Martins and C.L. Hewitt
Marine Pollution Bulletin, Vol.123(1-2), pp.304-312
2017
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Abstract

Both the invasion of non-indigenous marine species (NIMS) and the generation and accumulation of anthropogenic marine debris (AMD) are pervasive problems in coastal urban ecosystems. The biosecurity risks associated with AMD rafting NIMS have been described, but the role of aquaculture derived AMD has not yet been investigated as a biosecurity vector and pathway. This preliminary study targeted 27 beaches along the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand, collecting debris from belt transects. Plastic (specifically plastic rope) was the dominant AMD present on beaches. The most common biofouling taxa were hydroids, bryozoans, algae and polychaetes, with one NIMS pest species, Sabella spallanzanii, detected fouling plastic rope. Our findings demonstrate that aquaculture is an AMD (plastic rope) generating activity that creates biosecurity risk by enhancing the spread of NIMS. The rafting of S. spallanzanii on AMD generated at aquaculture facilities is currently an unmanaged pathway within New Zealand that needs attention.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#6 Clean Water and Sanitation
#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
#12 Responsible Consumption & Production
#14 Life Below Water

Source: InCites

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InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.60 Herbicides, Pesticides & Ground Poisoning
3.60.2078 Microplastics
Web Of Science research areas
Environmental Sciences
Marine & Freshwater Biology
ESI research areas
Environment/Ecology
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