Hydrodynamic models were constructed for four mollusc shellfish production
sites which represented a range of bathymetry and climatic conditions:
Dungarven Bay (Republic of Ireland), Bay of Brest (France), Ria de Vigo
(Spain) and the Ebro Delta (Spain). The modelling software used for each of
these studies is Telemac (Hervouet, 2007).
To investigate the spread of diseases within the marine environment, passive
tracers (without decay terms) were released within each model domain from
known aquaculture sites. The environmental conditions chosen for the
simulation were typical of the summer months in each area, which are the
conditions permissive for the pathogens of interest (e.g. oyster herpesvirus).
For each study site, model results then provide the concentration of tracer
over time as an indication of pathogen concentration, alongside other water
column properties.
