A habitat suitability index model for suspended tray culture of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas Thunberg

Abstract. A habitat suitability index (HSI) model for suspended tray culture of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas Thunberg, was constructed from existing information in the literature on oyster-environment relationships. In the model, biophysical data are used to rate aquaculture potential of coastal areas on a scale from 0.0 to 1·0. where 1·0 represents optimal conditions for growth and survival and 0·0 represents totally unsuitable habitat conditions. The model was tested with environmental, growth (increase in shell height) and secondary production (g· 100 oysters⁻¹ day⁻¹) data collected over a 14-month period for two age-classes of oysters transplanted to 10 locations along the coast of British Columbia. Canada. Regressions of HSI values calculated from entire study environmental data against oyster growth and secondary production were highly significant for both age-classes. Environmental data subsets representing short sampling programmers (1–3 months) resulted in HSI values significantly correlated to oyster growth, provided that some sampling occurred during periods of high food availability. HSI modeling techniques have potential application in site selection and coastal management of aquaculture.