Applications
Development
Originator
ShellSIM has been developed by Dr. A. J. S. (Tony) Hawkins based in part upon his research over 25 years at
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, plus a series of recent complimentary
collaborative Projects such as have included:
"ECASA" - EU STREP "Ecosystem Approach for Sustainable Aquaculture"; 01/12/2004 to 30/10/2007
http://www.ecasa.org.uk
"KEYZONES" - EU STREP "Ecosystem Approach for Sustainable Aquaculture"; 01/12/2004 to 30/10/2007
http://www.keyzones.com
"SPEAR" - EU INCO-DEV "Sustainable options for people, catchment and aquatic resources"; 01/12/2004 to 31/11/2007
http://www.biaoqiang.org
"SMILE" - DARDNI "Sustainable mariculture in Northern Irish lough ecosystems"; 01/10/2004 to 31/01/2007
http://www.ecowin.org/smile
"UISCE" - Irish Sea Fisheries Board “Understanding Irish shellfish culture environments”; 22/02/2007 to 30/09/2008
http://www.bim.ie/templates/reports.asp?action=detail&node_id=377&item_id=1073
"SARF012a" - Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum “Development of assimilative capacity and carrying capacity models
for water bodies utilised for marine bivalve and caged fish farming”; 01/01/2008 to 31/12 2010
http://www.sarf.org.uk/SARF012a.htm
"ShellSIM for SMILE" - Queens University Belfast (QUB) and Agri-Food & Biosciences
Institute (AFBI) “Further ShellSIM development for SMILE (Sustainable Mariculture in Northern Irish Sea Loughs)”; 01/02/09 to 28/02/2011
"NRAC" - Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Centre (NRAC) “Assessment of Environmental Effects of Oyster
Aquaculture in New England Waters”; 01/05/10 to 31/04/2012;
http://nrac.umd.edu/
Throughout, care has been taken to ensure ShellSIM is practicable, flexible and affordable, engaging the basic minimum of
forcing functions (i.e. environmental drivers) required for reasonable accuracy, whilst offering the potential for optional
additional drivers as may be desired to enhance precision. For example, we have considered whether to simulate effects of
changes in the relative abundances of different phytoplankton classes, but which has not been implemented to date on the
basis of cost/benefit ratio, where very significant effort may be required to obtain appropriate driver data.
Systematic validation using standardised measurement protocols for drivers and shellfish growth during normal culture
in 14 different species has established that the common dynamic structure within ShellSIM is both robust and adaptable (illustrated above).
Regulatory Implementation
The above Project named "Ecosystem Approach for Sustainable Aquaculture " (ECASA) produced the
internet-based ECASA Toolbox, where ShellSIM
is promoted among other tools tested for use by industry, regulators and managers engaged in marine
aquaculture environmental impact assessments. There, ShellSIM outputs are identified as relevant to
the following indicators of environmental status or impact (i) shellfish growth rates and shellfish
condition (i.e. meat weight/shell wt or length), (ii) water quality measures such as of chlorophyll a
and dissolved nitrogen, which are eaten and excreted by shellfish, respectively, and (iii) benthic
measures of sediment organics, species composition and system processes, such as are influenced by
the pseudofaeces and true faeces deposited by shellfish.
The above Project named “Sustainable Mariculture in Northern Irish Lough Ecosystems”
(SMILE) produced an integrated
hydrodynamic and biogeochemical modeling tool that uses ShellSIM validated for local shellfish species,
and which tool is currently being applied and developed by Queen’s University Belfast and the
Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) to help structure growth of the
Mytilus edulis and Crassostrea gigas shellfish
aquaculture industry in Northern Ireland.
More recently, a follow-on Project has enabled calibration and validation of ShellSIM for
Modiolus modiolus, Ostrea edulis and Pecten maximus,
for application within integrated SMILE product, including by the
Modiolus Restoration Research Group (MRRG) based at
Queen’s University
Marine Laboratory in Portaferry, Northern Ireland, for the
Modiolus Restoration Plan which aims to restore the Strangford Lough Special Area of Conservation
(SAC) back to Favorable Conservation Status (FCS).
The above Project named "Sustainable Options for People,
Catchment and Aquatic Resources" (SPEAR) produced integrated models that included ShellSIM validated for
local shellfish species, for managers of two important coastal systems in China to examine the consequences
of development for biodiversity, conservation, habitat protection, water quality and aquaculture yield,
including profit maximisation through the use of marginal analysis.
The above project named "Understanding Irish Shellfish Culture Environments" (UISCE) integrated ShellSIM
calibrated for local shellfish species within
MarGISTM, a user-friendly management tool that saves time and money by integrating existing
numerical models into a GIS framework designed for non-modellers to execute model runs, visualise and report
on simulation results within a single environment. MarGISTMhas been adopted by the Northwest Region
of the United Kingdom Environment Agency as ‘best practice’ in fulfilling their obligations under the
EU Habitats Directive, and has been developed by
MarCon and Bord Iascaigh
Mhara (BIM) to investigate the aquaculture carrying capacity potential of a number of bays around Ireland,
including as a decision support tool for the management of the national inshore shellfisheries spawning grounds,
whilst helping State Agencies meet the requirements of various EU Directives focused on environmental management
and protection. For immediate access to an online demonstration of ShellSIM’s contribution to the MarGIS
aquaculture management system, click on the thumbnail below.
Demonstration of ShellSIM's contribution to MarGISTM
Within the above Project entitled “Development of Assimilative Capacity and Carrying Capacity Models for
Water Bodies Utilised for Marine Bivalve and Caged Fish Farming” (SARF012a), ShellSIM is being integrated
with hydrodynamic and biogeochemical models as an application to screen for the environmental capacity to
assimilate aquaculture waste in Scottish lochs and voes, taking into account synergies between shellfish
and finfish farming. Planned users are
Marine Scotland Science (MSS) and the
Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
The Aquaculture and Fisheries Department of
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) present
14 case studies, based upon geographic mapping tools, which are judged to have
contributed to solving important issues that affect the sustainability of aquaculture and inland
fisheries. The utility and relevance of ShellSIM is illustrated here, as the sole means of simulating
shellfish within 2 (i.e. Bacher et al. 2003, MarGISTM 2009) of those 14 tools.