A Comprehensive Environmental Study of Coastal Area of Western Crimea as Justification of Selection of Marine Farming Sites (Black Sea)

V.I. Ryabushko, S.V. Shchurov, N.P. Kovrigina, E.V. Lisitskaya, N.V. Pospelova

A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas RAS, Sevastopol, Russia

Abstract

In order to study the current ecological status of the coastal zone of the western Crimea and its suitability for organizing marine farms to grow bivalve mollusks, in July 2018, hydrological, hydrochemical and hydrobiological studies were conducted in the water area from the mouth of the r. Belbek to m. Margopulo. Oxygen concentrations, BOD5 values and oxidizability had values below MAC. The magnitudes of the mineral forms of phosphorus and nitrogen were typical for the summer period of unpolluted marine waters. The eutrophication index E-TRIX changed from 1,44 to 2,20 and according to this criterion the waters of the water area correspond to a low trophic level. The average phytoplankton biomass is sufficient to provide the food for farmed mollusks. The taxonomic composition of meroplankton typical of the coastal waters of the Crimea in the summer. The veligers of the predatory gastropod mollusk, Rapana, have a negative impact on the cultivated mollusks. The results of comprehensive studies allow us to recommend this area of the coastal zone of the western Crimea for the development of farms for growing clams.

Keywords

hydrochemical characteristics, eutrophication index E-TRIX, phytoplankton, meroplankton, the Black Sea

DOI

10.22449/2413-5577-2019-2-67-77

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