Oyster is an important species both ecologically and economically. The fishery in Delaware Bay landed 94,470 bushels of oysters in 2011, worth approximately $4.2 million in dockside value. Salinity is one of the major influencers in oyster larval growth, survival, and physiological processes. But, although it is important to predict the salinity at different sampling stations in Delaware Bay to understand its effect on oysters, a robust salinity predictive model is not yet available. Therefore, the objective of Archi’s research was to conduct historical data analysis to develop an empirical model based on observing systems data to predict the daily near-bottom salinity over individual oyster beds.
