Oceanography of coastal waters around fish cages in the Labuange and Awerange Bays, South Sulawesi

Oceanographic study has been carried out in coastal waters of the area around fish cages, Labuange and Awerange Bays in October, November 2005, and February 2006. The objective of the study is to evaluate the impact of a fish cage culture on oceanographic properties of the coastal water in the Awerange and Labuange Bays. The results show that temperature, salinity, and pH at the RICA Maros observed at fish cage stations do not differ very much compare to those at other stations indicating that culture activities had little effect on variations of temperature, salinity, and pH both in Labuange and Awerange Bays. The temperature measured at 10m depth was only slightly lower than temperature measured at the surface. This indicated that water mass are well mixed (no stratification) up to 10 m depth at the study sites. There were systematically lower water clarity at fish cage stations compare to those measured at other seaward stations both in Labuange and Awerange Bays. The lower water clarity observed at fish cage stations could be due to input of turbid water from the land during rainy season and wastewater and fecal pellet from the fish culture activities