New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Relationships of rainfall, river flow, and salinity to faecal coliform levels in a mussel fishery

R. L. BROCK
G. R. GALBRAITH
B. A. BENSEMAN

Head Office Department of Health P. O. Box 5013, Wellington New Zealand
Public Health Laboratory National Health Institute P. O. Box 50348, Porirua New Zealand

Abstract Faecal coliform levels were determined for sea water and shellfish flesh from farms of the green mussel, Perna canaliculus, in Pelorus Sound, Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. Simple linear models were developed to relate logarithmically transformed data on the faecal coliform levels to measures of fresh water entering the mussel beds. These models support guidelines to restrict harvesting following periods of heavy rain in order to comply with shellfish sanitation standards. Alternative guidelines are suggested based on the volume of river water entering the sound or salinity.

Keywords faecal coliform; bacterial pollution; food contamination; Perna canaliculus; rainfall; flow; salinity; green mussel; harvesting; shellfish; fisheries

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1985, Vol. 19: 485-494 Received 25 July 1984; accepted 22 April 1985

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (591K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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