Kluger, Lotta Clara, Wolff, Matthias ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7458-983X and Mendo, Jaime (2017) Policy Brief 2017/1 - Estimating sustainable levels of scallop bottom aquaculture in Sechura Bay (Northern Peru). [Stakeholder Publication]

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Abstract

SUMMARY

The Peruvian bay scallop Argopecten purpuratus is the economically most important cultivated bivalve species along the South American Pacific coast. A major cultiva-tion spot is Sechura Bay, North of Peru, where scallops are grown in shallow-water bottom cultures. This activity is very important for the socio-economic development of the region: in 2013, about 5000 artisanal fishers work in the scallop production chain, with an annual export val-ue of US$158 mill. However, the intense scallop cultiva-tion can lead to changes in the species composition of the bottom community. Overstocking, combined with adverse environmental conditions, may cause poor scal-lop growth and mass mortalities with severe impacts on the entire ecosystem and the scallop production chain.

The 2013 German-Peruvian research project SASCA (Sus-tainability Analysis of Scallop Culture in Sechura Bay, Peru) aims at determining the bay’s carrying capacity – the maximum amount of cultivated scallops that the sys-tem can support without experiencing unacceptable changes. We therefore

• investigated the impact of scallop culture on the species composition of near-bottom communities,
• determined the oxygen demand and optimum scal-lop grow-out densities,
• constructed a food web model for the bay that eval-uates the impact of scallop culture under current and hypothetical scenarios of culture expansion, as well as the ecological carrying capacity, and
• analysed the value chain of the scallop production in Sechura through a socio-economic survey.

Document Type:	Stakeholder Publication
Programme Area:	PA Not Applicable
Research affiliation:	Integrated Modelling > Resource Management
Related URLs:	Organisation https://dx.doi.org/10.21244/zmt.2017/002
Date Deposited:	15 Apr 2025 15:54
Last Modified:	15 Apr 2025 15:54
URI:	http://cris.leibniz-zmt.de/id/eprint/5611

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