Salmon Sub-program: Marine currents, nutrients and plankton in the coastal waters of south eastern Tasmania and responses to changing weather patterns Kerrie M. Swadling Ruth S. Eriksen Jason M. Beard Christine M. Crawford June 2017 FRDC Project No 2014/031 © 2017 Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. All rights reserved. ISBN Print: 978-1-86295-890-6 ISBN Electronic: 978-1-86295-891-3 Salmon Sub-program: Marine currents, nutrients and plankton in the coastal waters of south eastern Tasmania and responses to changing weather patterns 2014/031 2017 Ownership of Intellectual property rights Unless otherwise noted, copyright (and any other intellectual property rights, if any) in this publication is owned by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation [and if applicable insert research provider organisation/s e.g. CSIRO Marine Research] This publication (and any information sourced from it) should be attributed to [Swadling, K.M., Eriksen, R.S., Beard, J.M. and Crawford, C.M. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, 2017, Salmon Sub-program: Marine currents, nutrients and plankton in the coastal waters of south eastern Tasmania and responses to changing weather patterns, Hobart, Tasmania, June. CC BY 3.0] Creative Commons licence All material in this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence, save for content supplied by third parties, logos and the Commonwealth Coat of Arms. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence is a standard form licence agreement that allows you to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt this publication provided you attribute the work. A summary of the licence terms is available from creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/deed.en. The full licence terms are available from creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/legalcode. Inquiries regarding the licence and any use of this document should be sent to: [email protected] Disclaimer The authors do not warrant that the information in this document is free from errors or omissions. The authors do not accept any form of liability, be it contractual, tortious, or otherwise, for the contents of this document or for any consequences arising from its use or any reliance placed upon it. The information, opinions and advice contained in this document may not relate, or be relevant, to a readers particular circumstances. Opinions expressed by the authors are the individual opinions expressed by those persons and are not necessarily those of the publisher, research provider or the FRDC. The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation plans, invests in and manages fisheries research and development throughout Australia. It is a statutory authority within the portfolio of the federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, jointly funded by the Australian Government and the fishing industry. Researcher Contact Details FRDC Contact Details Name: Address: 25 Geils Court Address: Deakin ACT 2600 Phone: 02 6285 0400 Phone: Fax: 02 6285 0499 Fax: Email: [email protected] Email: Web: www.frdc.com.au In submitting this report, the researcher has agreed to FRDC publishing this material in its edited form. ii Contents Tables ..................................................................................................................................................... iv Figures ................................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................. ix Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................................... x Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................. xi 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 2. Methods ..................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Characteristics of water masses influencing Tasmania ................................................................4 2.2 Sampling sites in Storm Bay ........................................................................................................7 2.3 Baseline water quality data ..........................................................................................................9 2.4 Plankton sampling ........................................................................................................................9 2.5 Data analysis ..............................................................................................................................10 3. Results ..................................................................................................................................... 11 3.1 Storm Bay – general overview of conditions .............................................................................11 3.2 Sites in Storm Bay .....................................................................................................................26 3.3 Phytoplankton and Zooplankton ................................................................................................38 3.4 Detection of Neoparamoeba perurans in Storm Bay ................................................................52 3.5 Primary Production in Storm Bay ..............................................................................................54 3.6 Historical Comparison ...............................................................................................................59 4. Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 63 4.1 Physical and chemical water quality in Storm Bay ....................................................................63 4.2 Historical comparison ................................................................................................................65 4.3 Phytoplankton and Zooplankton in Storm Bay ..........................................................................67 4.4 Detection of Neoparamoeba perurans in Storm Bay ................................................................70 4.5 Assessment of the FRRF in Storm Bay .....................................................................................70 5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 71 Implications .......................................................................................................................................... 72 Further development ........................................................................................................................... 73 Extension and Adoption ...................................................................................................................... 74 Glossary ................................................................................................................................................ 75 Project materials developed................................................................................................................ 76 Presentations ....................................................................................................................................76 iii Student projects ................................................................................................................................76 Scientific papers ...............................................................................................................................76 Industry update.................................................................................................................................77 Appendices ........................................................................................................................................... 78 Appendix 1: List of researchers and project staff (boat skippers, technicians, consultants) ...........78 Appendix 2: Intellectual Property ....................................................................................................78 Appendix 3: References ...................................................................................................................79 Appendix 4 .......................................................................................................................................85 Tables Table 2.1 Longitude and latitude of sites sampled in Storm Bay, with maximum depth sampled (approximately 5 m from the bottom) at each site. ........................................................................................ 8 Table 3.1 Neoparamoeba perurans detected in Storm Bay during 2014 and 2015. Temperature and salinity at the time and depth of sampling are also shown. ...................................................................................... 53 Table 3.2. Light (PAR, µmol photons m-2 s-1), Chlorophyll (Chl, mg chla m-3) and Fv/Fm (dimensionless) at sites 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 9, depths of 10 m and 20 m (or the greatest depth if less than 20 m) on the 15th January, 10th March and 22nd April 2015....................................................................................................