Drivers of decadal-scale temporal change in epibenthic megafaunal assemblages on scallop fishing grounds in the Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy presents a unique environment with extreme tidal range, strong currents, fresh-water river discharge, and diverse habitats that are also experiencing temperature increase at a faster rate than most of the world ocean. There is extensive commercial fishing, valuable beds of sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) being found in several areas, some of which have been fished for over a century. Previously, comparative analyses of data collected in 1967 and 1997 found that the epibenthic assemblage on the Digby scallop ground had become more homogenous over the 30 year interval, while species composition had changed significantly. Attached, fragile, epifaunal taxa declined, whereas scavengers and robust burrowing filter-feeders increased in frequency of occurrence, consistent with the physical impacts of fishing gears as a primary driver. The Digby ground along with the commercial scallop grounds around Grand Manan Island and on Lurcher Shoal were resampled in 2007-08 to determine whether the changes off Digby had continued and if they were also occurring in other parts of the Bay. Significant spatial differences among the three scallop grounds were observed. The leafy bryozoan, Flustra foliacea, which was expanding its local range through time, was the leading contributor to the spatial dissimilarity. Depth and mean tidal current speed were the most important environmental variables influencing species composition. Significantly more taxa were recorded per station in 1997 than in 2007-08, while assemblage compositions were significantly different between the two periods. Decadal-scale declines in the frequencies of occurrence of attached, epibenthic filter-feeders, including the polychaete Filograna implexa, were observed, continuing the trend previously reported and consistent with on-going impacts of bottom-contact fishing gears, despite decades of trawling and dredging. However, other and unknown drivers were also implicated in the observed changes.