Growth of Mytilus galloprovincialis (mollusca, bivalvia) close to fish farms: a case of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture within the Tyrrhenian Sea

Abstract

A current practice of marine aquaculture\ud is to integrate fish with low-trophic-level organisms\ud (e.g. molluscs and/or algae) during farming to\ud minimise effects of cultivation on the surrounding\ud environment and to potentially increase economic\ud income. This hypothesis has been tested in the\ud present article experimentally, by co-cultivating fish\ud and mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) in the field.\ud Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) experiments\ud were started in July 2004 by transplanting\ud mussel seed at two depths (-3 and -9 m) within\ud 1,000 m downstream to fish cages and at 1,000 m\ud upstream from cages. Mussels were cultured in nylon\ud net bags for 12 months and the growth recorded\ud biometrically. The outcome of our field experiment\ud corroborated the idea of IMTA effectiveness. In fact,\ud in the study area, the organic matter from fish-farm\ud biodeposition caused changes in the chemical environment\ud (i.e. controls and impacted sites were\ud significantly different for organic matter availability\ud and chlorophyll-a) and this induced changes in\ud growth performance of co-cultivated mussels. Mussels\ud cultivated close to cages, under direct organic\ud emission, reached a higher total length, weight and\ud biomass than mussel cultivated far from farms

Temporal Evolution of the Microbiological Conditions of a Sicilian Area Designed for Aquaculture (Castellammare Gulf, Southern Tyrrhenian Sea)

“…Several studies [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] highlighted that the abundance of vibrios is often unrelated to that of faecal pollution indicators; therefore a complete assessment of the hygienic-sanitary quality of coastal waters should include these microorganisms to get a complete picture of the health risks associated to diseases from contaminated seafood. Halophilic vibrios are microorganisms autochthonous of marine environments; their abundance follows a seasonal trend, increasing during summer months [27]; moreover, coastal and estuarine habitats rich in organic polymers are typical habitats for vibrios whose growth depends on the availability of organic matter [11].…”

“…In Sicily, the Gulf of Castellammare, located along the northwestern Tyrrhenian coast, has been traditionally considered as a fishing area, which is intensively practiced [18][19][20][21]. It is a wide bay about 70 Km long, comprised between Capo S. Vito and Terrasini, characterized by the presence of extensive mussel beds and by the outflows of alcohol distilleries which enrich waters with organic substrates; also stream inflows cause a persistent turbidity of waters, which have sporadically undergone to eutrophication.…”

“…It is a wide bay about 70 Km long, comprised between Capo S. Vito and Terrasini, characterized by the presence of extensive mussel beds and by the outflows of alcohol distilleries which enrich waters with organic substrates; also stream inflows cause a persistent turbidity of waters, which have sporadically undergone to eutrophication. In spite of the great potentiality of the Gulf for aquaculture and fish farming, information on the microbiological conditions of the Gulf is still fragmentary; to our knowledge, only a few scientific reports are available [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

Offshore and Multi-Use Aquaculture with Extractive Species: Seaweeds and Bivalves

“…Faster growth (between 30 and 40% greater) of bivalves near fish cages has been reported with contributions of fish feed and fish faeces varying between 5-28% and 4-35%, respectively (Wallace 1980;Jones and Iwama 1991;Stirling and Okomus 1995;Buschmann et al 2000;Lefebvre et al 2000;Lander et al 2004;Peharda et al 2007;Chopin et al 2008;Sara et al 2009;Handå et al 2012;Jiang et al 2013;Dong et al 2013). Other studies, however, did not observe a difference in growth near fish cages (Mazzola and Sara 2001;Navarrete-Mier et al 2010).…”

The Development of Sustainable Saltwater-Based Food Production Systems: A Review of Established and Novel Concepts

“…The principles of IMTA can be applied to saltwater and freshwater operations on land, near the coast or offshore [2,129]. To function well in open-water IMTA systems, the culture of organic extractive species (e.g., shellfish or deposit-feeding invertebrate) and/or inorganic extractive species (e.g., macroalgae) should take place in close-proximity to the cages, usually somewhat downstream to ensure effective uptake of nutrients [131,132]. Offshore IMTA relies on currents to move nutrient-rich water from fed to extractive species.…”