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Comparing the mussel population sizes of Mytilus edulis (The Blue or Common Mussel) between the deep water harbour and the estuarine river of Fowey.
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The importance of the Mytilus edulis (The Blue or Common Mussel) in Fowey is
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wide and varied, but the public studies of this species is noegsisdent. With this
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base line survey more information of their disbrution can be know for future
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scientife studies can take place, protecting incomes for years to come.
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Introduction
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The importance of the Mytilus edulis (The Blue or Common Mussel to humans in
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Fowey is economic at the core. These commercially viable organisms are
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collected for the food industry. They are also seen as a pest. Once a year the
James V Connolly Falmouth Marine School Cornwall TR11 3QS James.connolly135@live.cornwall.ac.uk Chief Executive & Harbour Master Captain M J Sutherland Harbour Office, Albert Quay, Fowey, Cornwall. PL23 1AJ. UK. E-mail fhc@foweyharbour.co.uk Phone (01726) 832471 Fax (01726) 833738 VHF Channel 12 Gary Rawle of West Contry Mussels Fowey 39 Langurtho Road Fowey Cornwall PL23 1EH Tel: 01726 832333 Tel/Fax: 01726 832693 email: contactus @ westcountrymussels.co.uk Tourist Information Centre of Fowey 5 South Street,Fowey, PL23 1AR. Telephone: +44(0)1726 833616 Fax: +44(0)1726 834939 Email: info@fowey.co.uk
Abstract
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Fowey harbour commission removes and cleans every swing morning with in its
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designated area of care. The most abundant life found on these mooring chains
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and the buoys themselves are the blue mussel (Captain Mike Sutherland 2011).
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So for 2 reasons every year a large amount of man hours and money is
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dedicated to this 1 organism.
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After being commission to map the new location of each buoy wail the
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maintenance process was taking place the opportunity presented itself to perform
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a base line study of the distribution of said organisms which has currently never
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taken place within the public domain.
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This mussel is a member of the Mollusca phylum and class Bivalvia and is a
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common site around much of the UK shores Rzepecki, Leszek M.; Hansen,
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Karolyn M.; Waite, J. Herbert (August 1992).
53 54
Their habitat requirements are simple. A hard surface on which to grown from the
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‘high intertidal to the shallow subtidal’ is all that is required. A larval mussel,
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known as a trochophora larva, will land on a hard surface in the end stage of its
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larval form and metamorphose into an adult mussel attached to said surface.
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This can be everything from a rock, sea wall, boat hull or in this instance the
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chains and under side of a morning buoy. This is made possible by the
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application of byssus thread. This is a strong organic thread produced by an
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individual from the end of its muscled foot in an area called the byssus gland.
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This thread is used to secure the mussel to the surface and each other. These
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connections to each other help the form mussel beds, some times coating entire
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surfaces. Some of the biggest mussel beds can be kilometres in size (Dr Harvey
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Tyler-Walters: Mytilus edulis). These beds also provide a habitat and breeding
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area for other small organisms such as Crustacea and other Mollusca such as
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slipper limpets and acorn barnacles.
68 69
The second key requirement is a food supply. These are stationary organisms
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when in adult form and as such are filter feeders, meaning they require a suitable
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food source to pass nearby. They are not entirely immobile. An individual can
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send out threads like an anchor and then slowly pull them in. This method of
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transport however is slow and requires a lot of energy so if a mussel settles in an
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unsuitable area is far more likely to die before it has a chance to move to a more
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suitable location.
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Fowey is 1 of only 3 naturally deep harbours in the UK. And has over 93 million
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gallons of water flowing through it each day. The harbour is so named due to 1 of
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the villages that surround it. There are how ever 8 other villages (Polruan
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Bodinnick, Golant, Mixtow, Penpol, Lerryn, St Winnow and Lostwithiel) a map
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can be on the next page
82 83
Š Copyright 2001-2011 Newsquest Media Group
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“Fowey is a deep water harbour and an important exporting port on the South
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West peninsula, being the largest in tonnage terms. It is also in the top twenty
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ports for non-oil product exports in the United Kingdom. Fowey Harbour
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Commissioners provide the pilotage and towage services for the export of China
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Clay through Fowey to destinations all over the world.” Fowey Harbour
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Commissioners 2011
90 91
Method
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As already stated these observations have been carried out with the help and
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permission of the harbour commission in Fowey.
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There are 2 methods on which the data was gathered.
95 96
The process of “cleaning” is fairly simple. A worker hooks the chosen buoy and
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then feeds it through a winch which then in turn pulls the buoy out of the water
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along with all of its chains and concrete base weight. As the chains emerge they
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are then in turn fed through a pair of hard rollers. These rollers are designed to
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nock off most of the encrusted life. From this debris it is then possible to count
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the number of individuals. The boat on which this was taking place was a flat
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bottomed working punt called Mona. This working barge was 50 feet in length
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with an 8 foot beam and had two side mounted prop engines giving her high
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stability and control in the water.
105
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Once on top of the buoys the GPS coordinates are taken and recorded the
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number of counted individuals is then also recorded by hand. The buoy’s name is
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also marked. If the name is illegible or had eroded beyond understanding that it
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is marked with a new code using a paint pen. Photos are also taken of all
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findings.
111 112
The difficulty of this method is that it is tide dependent. Most of the buoys above
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the clay works, in the shallow estuarine waters and on the edges of the deep
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water harbour can only be accessed at high tide due to the boats Secondly the
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availability to join on the winching boat was not always possible so many boys
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where mapped without access to count the mussels.
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Safety is a key issue at all times wail working on the water and with heavy
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machinery. Care should also be taken to avoid dropping your note pad or any
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other equipment into the water.
121 122
Analysis
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To test if there is a different is abundance of mussels between the up river site in
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the estuarine environment and the deep water harbour the statistical unpaired t
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test was carried out. The formula for which is
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127
The results of the statistical test are negative. There is no statistical difference in
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population counts in the deep water harbour to the shallow salt wedge upstream
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is minimal. Proving the Null hypothesis
130 131
Results
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Deep water 1 Mussel NAME
SX
BNG
count
G344
12551
55962
64
G298
21661
55463
87
G290
12581
55404
53
UK01
12633
55520
56
G269
12015
55422
35
G300AR
12706
55408
65
HO52(P)
12768
55429
23
G97(P)
12704
55365
71
UK02
12683
55335
53
G203K
12588
55336
45
total
552
133 134
Deep water 2 Mussel Name
SX
BNG
count
UK03
12526
55335
56
UK04
12576
55220
76
UK05
12655
55191
45
G291
12699
55223
62
G274 速
12719
55109
46
G275
12586
55113
72
G263(P)
12550
55015
45
UK05(P)
12524
55108
75
G279
12523
55151
54
G272
12522
55051
64
total
595
135 136
Deep water 3 Mussel Name
SX
BNG
count
UK07
12551
55072
65
G262
12567
55029
67
G264
12536
55010
54
G255(P)
12653
55020
29
UK08
12719
54939
39
G258
12685
54944
62
G235速
12653
54927
45
G256
12639
54954
34
G257
12633
55011
57
G252
12577
54956
56
total
508
137 138
Shallow water 1 Mussel Name
SX
BNG
count
G254
12534
44931
38
UK10
12520
54966
61
G249
12490
54937
66
G248
12455
54941
28
UK11
12455
54919
29
G258速
12552
54919
48
c022
12443
51093
14
C035
12457
51102
33
c15
21445
51083
11
c325
12670
51324
174
total
502
139 140
Shallow water 2 Mussel Name uk44
SX
BNG 12523
count 51121
136
c86
12550
51129
24
c88
12535
51140
63
c010
12464
51061
24
Go3812
12484
51070
53
c34
12511
51075
0
c40
12521
51083
204
c17
12489
51063
39
c24p
12501
51066
42
c049R
12518
51114
12
Total
597
141 142
Shallow water 3 Mussel Name
SX
BNG
count
co71R
12512
51070
17
c85
12518
51075
44
c203
12655
51113
80
c2185
12674
51128
15
c210R
12695
51144
55
c249
12756
51193
63
c300
12773
51202
7
c250
12784
51216
135
c343r
12842
51338
98
c305r
12835
51332
Total
62 576
143 144
Discussion
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Proving the null hypothesis was a great surprise. I was very much expecting to
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find a different in population counts. There are however a great many reasons as
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to why this was not found. The first would be the clay works found just before the
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dividing line separating the deep water channel and the shallow water by Mixtow.
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It is completely unresearched just how much clay is arriving in the Fowey waters
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via this industry. It is equally unknown where this clay is then going.
151
References
152
Boating Cornwall (2011) Fowey, Newsquest Media Group,
153
http://www.boatingcornwall.co.uk/harbours/fowey/840315.Fowey_Harbour_map/
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155 156
Fowey Harbour Commissioners (2010) Fowey Harbour,
157
www.foweyharbour.co.uk (02, 11, 2010)
158 159 160
Rzepecki, L. M., Hansen, K. M., Waite, J. H. (1992) "Characterization of a
161
Cystine-Rich Polyphenolic Protein Family from the Blue Mussel Mytilus edulis L.".
162
Biological Bulletin 183 (1): 123–37. doi:10.2307/1542413,
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http://biostor.org/cache/pdf/40/81/cf/4081cf9d89c8f0c1e3170efe9077daec.pdf
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169
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170
United Kingdom,
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172 173
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