| dc.description.abstract | Mussels were collected from a mussel farm at Kvitsøy and were deployed for 4 weeks (March-April 2022) at two separate locations at an aquaculture facility at Rennesøy, (Rogaland, Norway). One group of caged mussels were placed at the southwest side of the facility next to the fish nets, while the other group of caged mussels was deployed at the east side of the facility and attached to a buoy. The purpose of this thesis was to determine if copper-based anti-fouling agents from aquaculture facilities had an impact on the mussel health.
An assessment consisting of multiple biomarkers was used to determine the biological effect on the mussels. The six selected biomarkers were condition index (CI), stress on stress (SoS), lysosomal membrane stability (LMS) assay, micronucleus (MN) assay, acetylcholine (AChE) assay and metallothionein (MT) spectrometry.
After 4 weeks deployment, based on the SoS and LMS, there were no significant differences between the three mussel groups. MN assay had a significant difference between the pre-deployment group (T0) and station 1, AChE activity had an increase in both station 1 and station 2, while for MT spectrometry there appeared to be an increase only in station 2.
A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on the mean/median values from the biomarkers of each mussel test group. The PCA scatter plot clearly separates the three mussel groups from each other.
From the six biomarkers used in this thesis, it can be determined that the deployed mussel was affected by the environment at the fish farm. However, based on the selected biomarkers, it cannot be determined what caused the increased stress for the caged mussel groups. | |