Baseline Survey, the Presence of G
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TRUMPETER BAY MF281 – East of Yellow Bluff: BASELINE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT DRAFT FINAL REPORT (VERSION 1.0) June 2019 Report to: Huon Aquaculture Group Pty Ltd Prepared by: AQUENAL PTY LTD AQUENAL www.aquenal.com.au MF281 East of Yellow Bluff BLS 2019 Document Distribution Document Date Name Company Version Copies Type Dom Obrien, Huon Aquaculture 3 June 2019 Adam Smark, Electronic 1.0 1 Group Pty Ltd Matt Whittle 3 June 2019 Mark Churchill EPA Electronic 1.0 1 COPYRIGHT: The concepts and information contained in this document are the property of Aquenal Pty Ltd. Use or copying of this document in whole or in part without the written permission of Aquenal Pty Ltd constitutes an infringement of copyright. DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared on behalf of and for the exclusive use of Aquenal Pty Ltd’s client and is subject to and issued in connection with the provisions of the agreement between Aquenal Pty Ltd and its Client. Aquenal Pty Ltd accepts no liability or responsibility whatsoever for or in respect of any use of or reliance upon this report by any third party. 2 MF281 East of Yellow Bluff BLS 2019 Contents 1 Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 6 2 Operational Summary ................................................................................................................ 10 3 Location and Survey Maps ......................................................................................................... 11 4 Current Measurements .............................................................................................................. 12 5 Bathymetric Profile .................................................................................................................... 17 6 Seabed Characteristics and Habitat Profile ............................................................................... 18 7 Underwater Video Survey .......................................................................................................... 19 7.1 Filming Summary ................................................................................................................. 19 7.2 Observations from Filming .................................................................................................. 20 8 Sediment Chemistry ................................................................................................................... 30 8.1 Visual Assessment ............................................................................................................... 30 8.2 Redox Potential ................................................................................................................... 36 8.3 Sulphide Analysis ................................................................................................................. 36 8.4 Particle Size Analysis ........................................................................................................... 37 8.5 Organic Content .................................................................................................................. 38 8.6 Heavy Metal Analysis .......................................................................................................... 39 9 Gazameda gunnii Survey ........................................................................................................... 42 10 Benthic Fauna Analysis............................................................................................................... 44 11 Inshore Reef Surveys .................................................................................................................. 48 12 Deep Reef Surveys ..................................................................................................................... 55 13 Seagrass Surveys ........................................................................................................................ 57 14 References.................................................................................................................................. 61 3 MF281 East of Yellow Bluff BLS 2019 List of Figures Figure 1 Location and Survey Map, MF281 – Yellow Bluff, Trumpeter Bay. Sites C1 – C3 indicate control triplicates; sites 1 – 14 indicate the 35 m compliance triplicates; IF1-IF30 indicate internal sites IR1-IR6 indicate inshore reef transects, DR1 indicates deep reef transects, SG indicate seagrass transects. Red line = zone boundary; black rectangle = lease boundary. .................................................................................................................................... 11 Figure 2a Polar plots of current velocity and direction for depths spaced at 3m intervals fromthe surface to the seafloor, (January – April 2019). The plots are read as if the current flow moves from the outer circle towards the centre of the graph. .......................................................................................................................................... 13 Figure 3 Bathymetric profile for MF281 – Yellow Bluff. Black line indicates the lease boundary. ................................... 17 Figure 4 Survey habitat map. Red outline – Zone boundary; black rectangle – lease boundary for MF281 – Yellow Bluff. ................................................................................................................................................................................. 18 Figure 5 Redox potential at 30 mm depth in sediment cores. Bars represent mean redox potential (± SE error) across replicate cores (n=3 for compliance and control sites; n=30 for internal IF sites) .................................................. 36 Figure 6 Sulphide concentrations in sediment core samples. Bars represent mean sulphide concentration (± SE error) across replicate cores (n=3 for compliance and control sites; n=30 for internal IF sites). ...................................... 37 Figure 7 Particle size analyses of the top 100 mm of sediment. Lines represent mean percentage cumulative volume for size fractions at each site, based on pooled replicates for compliance (n=3), control (n=3) and internal farm (n=30) sites. ............................................................................................................................................................. 38 Figure 8 Organic content in sediment core samples. Bars represent mean organic content (± SE error) across replicate cores (n=3 for compliance and control sites; n=30 for internal IF sites). ................................................................ 39 Figure 9 Location of grab samples taken during Gazameda gunnii survey for MF281 – Yellow Bluff, highlighting the sample sites where dead shells were collected (1, 9, 23, 26, 31, 38 and 40). ........................................................ 42 Figure 10 Photograph of dead G. gunnii shells collected during the targeted survey of MF281-Yellow Bluff. ................ 43 Figure 11 Results of MDS analysis using benthic infauna data collected from benthic grabs for MF281 – Yellow Bluff. Compliance and control symbols represent pooled data across three replicate grabs, internal farm site symbols describe single samples taken at each site. Ellipses indicate community similarity (%) based on cluster analysis.45 Figure 12 Benthic faunal analysis of seabed samples – MF281 – Yellow Bluff.. K – dominance curves. Analysis based on pooled data for compliance (n=3), control (n=3) and internal farm (n=30) sites. .................................................. 47 Figure 13 Representative habitats along deep reef survey transect. ............................................................................... 55 Figure 14 Map showing location of seagrass survey transects, including (a) North Bruny Island (a) and (b) Adventure Bay. .......................................................................................................................................................................... 58 List of Tables Table 1 Summarised current and velocity data for depths spaced at 3m intervals from 3m to the seafloor, (January – April 2019). .............................................................................................................................................................. 12 Table 2 Descriptions of dives performed at MF281 – Yellow Bluff. .................................................................................. 20 Table 3 Description of each ROV dive performed at MF281 – Yellow Bluff. Video analysis and interpretation provided by Huon Aquaculture. ............................................................................................................................................. 25 Table 4 Visual description of sediment cores at MF281 – Yellow Bluff. ........................................................................... 31 Table 5 Summary of heavy metal analysis of sediment samples and comparison with the ANZECC 2000 trigger values. Results represent mean concentrations (± SE error) across replicate cores (n=3 for compliance and control sites; n=30 for internal IF sites). Exceedance of ANZECC 2000 trigger values, based on average metal concentrations, are highlighted in yellow Raw data is provided in Appendix 7. .............................................................................. 41 Table 6 Summary of Gazameda gunnii observations ......................................................................................................