Stakeholders' perceptions of marine fish farming in Catalonia (Spain): A Q-methodology approach

To meet the Convention on Biological Diversity's Aichi Target 11 on marine biodiversity protection and Aichi Target 6 on sustainable fisheries by 2020, as well as the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 on food security and SDG 14 on oceans by 2030, there is an urgent need to rethink how best to reconcile nature conservation and sustainable development.
This paper argues for effective governance to support processes that apply principles of sustainable development and an ecosystem approach to decide about economic activities at sea such as aquaculture. It describes opportunities, benefits and synergies between aquaculture and MPAs as a basis for wider debate. The scope is not a comprehensive analysis of aquaculture and MPAs, but rather to present examples of positive interactions between aquaculture activities and MPAs. The unintended negative consequences are also discussed to present balanced arguments.
This work draws from four workshops held in 2015 and 2016 and used to collect information from about 100 experts representing various sectors and perspectives.
It is recognized that aquaculture is an important activity in terms of sustainable development. It can play a role in providing food security, poverty alleviation and economic resilience, in particular for MPA local communities, and contribute to wild stock enhancement, as an alternative to overfishing and for providing services to the ecosystem.
This study showed that there is a need from both aquaculture and MPA sides for clarity of objectives and willingness for open and extensive dialogue. The paper concludes by describing a number of tools and methods for supporting greater synergies between aquaculture and MPAs.
The results from this work have already helped to build a common understanding between conservation and aquaculture and initiate a rapprochement for increasing synergies.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/aqc.2821

Aquaculture and marine protected areas: Potential opportunities and synergies

The search for healthier protein sources and the growing demand for food by an increasing world population require aquaculture systems to not only be economically and technologically viable, but also sustainable. Among other methods, emergy synthesis is a powerful tool to assess the sustainability of production systems in a biophysical perspective. However, applications of emergy synthesis on aquaculture systems are seldomly found in the scientific literature. This work provides a literature review on emergy synthesis applied to aquaculture systems and discusses its constraints and potentials. The sixteen papers published between 2000-2020 support the adoption of polycultures more than monocultures and highlight the importance of feed (4–70%) in the total emergy required by aquaculture systems, which require efforts for natural food. Methodological aspects of emergy synthesis applied in aquaculture systems that deserve attention by developers and analysts to avoid mistakes and erroneous conclusions were identified and discussed, and we propose some ways to solve them. These aspects are mainly related to inaccurate unit emergy values for water and feed, dubious procedures in quantifying and classifying water as renewable or non-renewable resources, and the need to recognize the importance in accounting for ecosystem services and disservices. After overcoming these methodological inconsistencies, we foresee that emergy synthesis has potential political implications in supporting most sustainable aquaculture systems through economic (tax reduction and loans with reduced interests) and political (green labels) incentives. All these policies are important to achieve the ultimate goals of the United Nations’ Agenda 2030.

Emergy synthesis for aquaculture: A review on its constraints and potentials

Bioeconomic analysis of the environmental impact of a marine fish farm.

Meagre (Argirosomus regius) is a relatively new farmed fish species in Croatian mariculture. This study is the first attempt to determine the prevalence of cymothoid isopod parasite Ceratothoa oestroides and its effects on cultured meagre in the Mediterranean area. When analysing growth of meagre at two sites in the central part of the Eastern Adriatic Sea, the greatest difference in total fish length was recorded in March 2016, when fish with parasites were 33% smaller than fish without parasites (24.47 ± 3.29 vs. 16.28 ± 1.01 cm; p < .001). The largest difference in mass was also recorded during sampling in March, when parasitized fish was 74% lighter than the unparasitized fish (171.75 ± 72.96 vs. 44.77 ± 6.57 g; p < .001). The presence of the cymothoid isopod in the buccal cavity was observed, and caused fish deformation throughout the entire duration of the study. Also, female parasites with pulli II in marsupium were found. Based on the determined prevalence and effects on production and health status, monitoring of the interaction between C. oestroides and meagre should be considered in future management plans for cultivation of this promising species for Mediterranean aquaculture.

Prevalence and effects of the cymothoid isopod (Ceratothoa oestroides, Risso 1816) on cultured meagre (Argyrosomus regius, Asso 1801) in the Eastern Adriatic Sea

Indicators for sustainable aquaculture in Mediterranean and Black Sea countries: guide for the use of indicators to monitor sustainable development of aquaculture

S. Ben Salem

Papers

Indicators for sustainable aquaculture in Mediterranean and Black Sea countries: guide for the use of indicators to monitor sustainable development of aquaculture