Mapping & Modelling the dead zones of the Bras d’Or Lake estuary in the context of Aquaculture development

The people of Canada are transitioning from hunting and gathering in the ocean to cultivating and nurturing the ocean. This research and the outcomes of the academic–industry partnerships it engenders will contribute significantly to the economic, ecological and social sustainability of that transition. There is a particular concern on the part of the growing Aquaculture industry, their clients and the people of Canada that aquaculture be developed in a manner the is both economically and ecologically sustainable. This project will provide science-based knowledge, enhanced technology and predictive models that address one of the most complex and daunting challenges to these anticipated outcomes of aquaculture development during a period of accelerating climate change: the causes and effects of reduced oxygen concentrations in natural water bodies where aquaculture activities are undertaken. The team of academic and industry partners includes oceanographers from eastern Canada’s leading universities, the nation’s largest food and agriculture science corporation, and a Mi’kmaq First Nation that operates the only finfish aquaculture business in the Bras d’Or Lake UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Faculty Supervisor:

Bruce Hatcher;Jinyu Sheng;Douglas Wallace

Student:

Partner:

Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc;Waycobah Fisheries Ltd;Pro-Oceanus Systems Inc

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Agriculture; Information and cultural industries

University:

Cape Breton University

Program: