Matthew Parker

Bio: Matthew Parker is an academic researcher from University of Maryland, College Park. The author has contributed to research in topics: Aquaculture & Oyster. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 6 publications receiving 50 citations.

Ecological Forecasting and the Science of Hypoxia in Chesapeake Bay

Abstract: Abstract Chronic seasonal low oxygen condition (hypoxia) occurs in the deep waters of Chesapeake Bay as a result of eutrophication‐induced phytoplankton blooms and their subsequent decomposition. Summertime hypoxia has been observed in Chesapeake Bay for over 80 years, with scientific attention and understanding increasing substantially during the past several decades after rigorous and routine monitoring programs were put in place. More recently, annual forecasts of the severity of summer hypoxia and anoxia (no oxygen) from simple empirically derived nutrient load‐response models have been made. A review of these models over the past decade indicates that they have been generally accurate, with the exception of a few summers when wind events or storms significantly disrupted the water column. Hypoxic and anoxic conditions, as well as their forecasts, have received increased media attention over the past 5 years, contributing to an ongoing public dialogue about Chesapeake Bay restoration progress.

Sustainable growth of non-fed aquaculture can generate valuable ecosystem benefits

Abstract: Investment in extractive or ‘non-fed’ aquaculture has been proposed as a partial solution for sustainable food provision. An important aspect is the potential for aquaculture-environment interactions to influence the provision of ecosystem services. Here, we quantify and monetise the impacts of bivalve and seaweed farming on a regulating service (removal of nitrogen from nearshore waters) and a supporting service (habitat provision for species with fisheries value). We estimate that on average, 275–581 kg N ha−1 yr−1 (in harvest units: 4–25 kg N t -1) is removed via bioextraction at oyster, mussel and seaweed farms, with much smaller contributions from enhanced sediment denitrification beneath farms compared to reference sites. Based on nitrogen offset values in the United States and Europe, this additional nitrogen removal could be worth 84–505 USD t−1 in locations where nutrients are a management priority. Additionally, the habitat structure offered by aquaculture is estimated to support 348–1110 kg ha−1 yr−1 of additional fish compared to reference habitats, potentially worth an additional 972–2504 USD ha−1 yr−1 to commercial fishers or 1087–2848 USD ha−1 yr−1 to recreational fishers. Habitat values assume equal mortality rates at farms and comparable natural habitats, although the direction of effect is robust to small increases in mortality at farms. New policy perspectives may improve the capacity of non-fed aquaculture to sustainably meet the increasing demand for food while enhancing the provision of these two ecosystem services. Responsible development will be crucial to ensure that ecological benefits are not eroded by suboptimal site selection or farming practices that diminish the same or other ecosystem services.

Sustainable Oyster Aquaculture, Water Quality Improvement, and Ecosystem Service Value Potential in Maryland Chesapeake Bay

Abstract: The United States has a $16 billion seafood deficit that the U.S. Department of Commerce and states are attempting to close by legislative policies, encouraging expansion of aquaculture in the United States. One of these policies, the 2011 National Shellfish Initiative, recognizes the benefits to water quality of cultivation of bivalve shellfish aquaculture in addition to the provision of seafood product. More recently, research addressing these policies has resulted in approval of the use of harvested oysters as a nutrient best management practice in the Chesapeake Bay region. Also discussed, but not yet fully implemented, is the inclusion of oyster growers in nutrient credit trading programs where economic compensation is provided to oyster growers for the nutrient removal ecosystem service that their oysters provide. This study used field sampling and a local-scale oyster production model to compare water quality, oyster production, and oyster associated nitrogen removal at two bottom and four water-column Maryland Chesapeake Bay oyster farms. Objectives were to highlight differences in water quality (i.e., oyster food), resultant differences in oyster production, and differences in estimated oyster-associated nutrient removal among farms. An avoided, or replacement, cost economic valuation analysis was performed to also compare the potential payment to the oyster growers for the nutrient removal service if they were included in a fully developed nutrient credit trading program. Production at the six sites varied from 1.78 to 25 metric tons of harvestable oysters acre–1 y–1. Oyster filtration–related N removal was estimated to be at a range of 28–457 kg N acre–1 y–1. The potential economic value of the total N removed by a farm was estimated to be at a range of $0.56 × 103–$12,446 × 103 y–1 among farm sites, depending on the alternative management measure used to assign the value.

A 20-year retrospective review of global aquaculture.

Abstract: The sustainability of aquaculture has been debated intensely since 2000, when a review on the net contribution of aquaculture to world fish supplies was published in Nature. This paper reviews the developments in global aquaculture from 1997 to 2017, incorporating all industry sub-sectors and highlighting the integration of aquaculture in the global food system. Inland aquaculture—especially in Asia—has contributed the most to global production volumes and food security. Major gains have also occurred in aquaculture feed efficiency and fish nutrition, lowering the fish-in–fish-out ratio for all fed species, although the dependence on marine ingredients persists and reliance on terrestrial ingredients has increased. The culture of both molluscs and seaweed is increasingly recognized for its ecosystem services; however, the quantification, valuation, and market development of these services remain rare. The potential for molluscs and seaweed to support global nutritional security is underexploited. Management of pathogens, parasites, and pests remains a sustainability challenge industry-wide, and the effects of climate change on aquaculture remain uncertain and difficult to validate. Pressure on the aquaculture industry to embrace comprehensive sustainability measures during this 20-year period have improved the governance, technology, siting, and management in many cases. The volume of global aquaculture production has tripled since 2000 with positive trends in environmental performance, but the sector faces mounting challenges including pathogen management, pollution, climate change, and increasing dependence on land-based resource systems.

Biogeochemical Controls on Coastal Hypoxia

Abstract: Aquatic environments experiencing low-oxygen conditions have been described as hypoxic, suboxic, or anoxic zones; oxygen minimum zones; and, in the popular media, the misnomer "dead zones." This review aims to elucidate important aspects underlying oxygen depletion in diverse coastal systems and provides a synthesis of general relationships between hypoxia and its controlling factors. After presenting a generic overview of the first-order processes, we review system-specific characteristics for selected estuaries where adjacent human settlements contribute to high nutrient loads, river-dominated shelves that receive large inputs of fresh water and anthropogenic nutrients, and upwelling regions where a supply of nutrient-rich, low-oxygen waters generates oxygen minimum zones without direct anthropogenic influence. We propose a nondimensional number that relates the hypoxia timescale and water residence time to guide the cross-system comparison. Our analysis reveals the basic principles underlying hypoxia generation in coastal systems and provides a framework for discussing future changes.

Seasonal oxygen depletion in chesapeake bay

Abstract: LBL-1210lc, Reprint Published in ESTUARIES, Volume 3, No. 4, December 1980,pp, 242-247 SEASONAL OXYGEN DEPLETION IN CHESAPEAKE BAY Jay L. Taft, W. Rowland Taylor, Eric 0. Hartwig, and Randy Loftus January 1981 TWO-WEEK LOAN COPY This is a Library Circulating Copy which may be borrowed for two weeks. For a personal retention copy; call Tech. Info. Division; Ext. 6782. Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract W-7405-ENG-48

The Globalization of Cultural Eutrophication in the Coastal Ocean: Causes and Consequences

Abstract: Coastal eutrophication caused by anthropogenic nutrient inputs is one of the greatest threats to the health of coastal estuarine and marine ecosystems worldwide. To better understand and manage this threat, we compared six contrasting coastal ecosystems that are subjected to a range of riverine inputs of freshwater (buoyancy) and nutrients to address (i) impacts of anthropogenic nutrient inputs on ecosystem services; (ii) how ecosystem traits minimize or amplify these impacts; (iii) synergies among pressures (nutrient enrichment, over fishing, coastal development, and climate-driven pressures in particular); and (iv) management of nutrient inputs to coastal ecosystems. Globally, ~ 24% of the anthropogenic N released in coastal watersheds is estimated to reach coastal ecosystems. Our comparative assessment revealed that (i) in terms of the spatial extent of habitat degradation, Chesapeake Bay ranks number one followed in rank order by the northern Gulf of Mexico, the Baltic Sea, Great Barrier Reef, East China Sea and the northern Adriatic Sea; (ii) impacts of increases in anthropogenic nutrient loading are, and will continue to be, exacerbated by synergies with other pressures including over fishing, coastal development and climate-driven increases in sea surface temperature, acidification and rainfall; and (iii) when defined in terms of quantitative ranges of primary production, trophic status is not useful for relating anthropogenic nutrient loading to impacts. While managed reductions in point source inputs from sewage treatment plants are increasingly successful, controlling inputs from diffuse sources remains a challenging problem. Thus, it is likely that the severity of coastal eutrophication will continue to increase in the absence of effectively enforced, ecosystem-based management of both point and diffuse sources of nitrogen and phosphorus. This requires sustained, integrated research and monitoring, as well as repeated assessments of nutrient loading and impacts. These must be informed and guided by ongoing collaborations among scientists, politicians, managers and the public.