fresh scientific information relevant for a fairly specific human
activity, currently developed mostly in the South Pacific and especially
in atolls: black pearl aquaculture. Pearl farming is a commercial
activity more than a century-old. It includes the farming of
white and gold pearls in Asia and Australia, in both fresh and marine
waters. Conversely, black pearl farming is more recent, and
mostly associated with Pacific Islands where the production is
the highest, and especially from French Polynesia which has dominated
the market for the past 20 years (Southgate and Lucas,
2008).
As a human activity conducted in natural lagoon environments,
the general topic is of interest for Marine Pollution Bulletin. This
journal has published papers on a wide array of topics describing
the marine environment, its use by human activities, and the related
impacts. The suite of manuscripts presented on this special
issue on ‘‘Ahe Atoll and Pearl Oyster Aquaculture in the Tuamotu
Archipelago’’ investigated Ahe Atoll’s oceanic wave regime, lagoon
hydrodynamics, oyster larval dispersal, reproduction of oysters, lagoon
hydrology, phytoplankton and zooplankton communities,
oyster’s diet, planktonic food webs, and impacts of the farming
activity on the lagoon sediments and picoplankton communities.
Several of the papers published in this volume tackle subjects that
are generally published in journals specialized in aquaculture and
biology, but with the huge emergence of aquaculture in recent decades
has come greater recognition that the practice is commonly
accompanied by deleterious changes. The papers here include ecophysiological
papers focused on the pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera
and the description of plankton communities. However, all
the papers are connected (see below a synthesis of the results)
and collectively provide a multidisciplinary and integrated view
of a lagoon ecosystem which is seldom available. We are pleased
that these papers are published side by side in this issue, for the
benefits of scientists and managers interested by human activities
in lagoon environments.