Abstract
To understand the effects of marine environmental and meteorological parameters on laver Porphyra yezoensis production at Nakdong River Estuary, we analyzed marine environmental (water temperature, salinity, nutrients, etc.) and meteorological properties (air temperature, wind speed, precipitation, sunshine hours) with yearly and monthly variations in laver production over 10 years (2003-2013). Air and water temperature, wind speed, sunshine hours and precipitation were major factors affecting yearly variability in laver production at the Nakdong River Estuary. Lower air and water temperatures together with higher levels of nutrients and sunshine and stronger wind speeds resulted in higher laver harvests. Salinity and nitrogen did not show clear correlations with laver production, mainly due to the plentiful supply of nitrogen from river discharge and the low frequency of environmental measurements, which resulted in low statistical confidence. However, environmental factors affecting monthly laver production were related to the life cycle (culturing stage) of Porphyra yezoensis and were somewhat different from factors affecting annual laver production. In November, a young laver needs lower water temperatures for rapid growth, while a mature laver needs much stronger winds and more sunshine, as well as lower temperatures for massive production and effective photosynthesis, mostly in December and January. However, in spring (March), more stable environments with fewer fluctuations in air temperature are needed to sustain the production of newly deployed culture-nets ($2^{nd}$ time culture). These results indicate that rapid changes in weather and marine environments caused by global climate change will negatively affect laver production and, thus, to sustain the yield of and predict future variability in laver production at the Nakdong River estuary, environmental variation around laver culturing farms needs to be monitored with high resolution in space and time.
