Assessing the influence and distribution of shrimp pond effluent in a tidal mangrove creek in north-east Australia

Effluent from a land based shrimp farm was detected in a receiving creek as changes in physical, chemical and biological parameters. The extent and severity of these changes depended on farm operations. This assessment was conducted at three different stages of shrimp-pond maturity, including (1) when the ponds were empty, (2) full and (3) being harvested. Methods for assessing farm effluent in receiving waters included physical/chemical analyses of the water column, phytoplankton bioassays and nitrogen isotope signatures of marine flora. Comparisons were made with an adjacent creek that served as the farms intake creek and did not directly receive effluent. Physical/chemical parameters identified distinct changes in the receiving creek with respect to farm operations. Elevated water column NH 4 + (18.5 ± 8.0 μM) and chlorophyll a concentrations (5.5 ± 1.9 μg/l) were measured when the farm was in operation, in contrast to when the farm was inactive (1.3 ± 0.3 μM and 1.2 ± 0.6 μg/l, respectively). At all times, physical/chemical parameters at the mouth of the effluent creek, were equivalent to control values, indicating effluent was contained within the effluent-receiving creek. However, elevated δ 15N signatures of mangroves (up to ∼8‰) and macroalgae (up to ∼5‰) indicated a broader influence of shrimp farm effluent, extending to the lower regions of the farms intake creek. Bioassays at upstream sites close to the location of farm effluent discharge indicated that phytoplankton at these sites did not respond to further nutrient additions, however downstream sites showed large growth responses. This suggested that further nutrient loading from the shrimp farm, resulting in greater nutrient dispersal, will increase the extent of phytoplankton blooms downstream from the site of effluent discharge. When shrimp ponds were empty water quality in the effluent and intake creeks was comparable. This indicated that observed elevated nutrient and phytoplankton concentrations were directly attributable to farm operations.