Abstract
The Spanish National Advisory Board of Mariculture (JACUMAR) developed an initiative to unify methodologies between the regions of Spain, in which they proposed the implementation of site-specific “Environmental Monitoring Plans” (EMPs). In this study, we tested the feasibility of an EMP on a fish farm in the Mediterranean Sea. The methods and tools proposed in the EMP are highly useful for environmental monitoring of aquaculture. However, spatial heterogeneity figured prominently in a univariate analysis with environmental variables and a multivariate analysis of polychaete assemblages. This variability may be due to habitat patchiness, and may therefore be solved by an improved experimental design, e.g. by adding replications for increasing statistical power. Multivariate analysis of polychaete assemblages provided accurate information about the quality of the sediment. This information could also be improved using ecological data about key polychaete families in order to avoid misleading results. Thus, the JACUMAR EMP has proved useful in providing precise information about the ecological status of marine benthic habitats, meeting the requirements of current European Directives. However, we suggest that some modifications may be required in order to account for possible misleading thresholds for environmental quality standards, spatial heterogeneity and increasing power analyses.
Highlights
The identification of indicators for the monitoring of aquaculture activities has been on the agenda of the FAO’s General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean in recent decades (Massa and Bourdenet 2016)
ANOVA analysis of the environmental variables showed that total free sulphide (TFS) was the most sensitive environmental variable to the fish farming activity, showing significant differences for zone factor (Table 2), with zone A having significantly higher values than the other zones (SNK: A>B>C2>C1, Fig. 2)
The components of variation showed that Total free sulphide (TFS) and Eh had the highest variation among zones, at the scale of hundreds of metres, while the proportion of the finest fraction, pH, Fig. 2. – Mean values (± standard error) of total free sulphides (TFS), finest fraction (%), organic matter (%), pH, redox potential and δ15N
Summary
The identification of indicators for the monitoring of aquaculture activities has been on the agenda of the FAO’s General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean in recent decades (Massa and Bourdenet 2016). It is acknowledged that monitoring protocols for aquaculture, either as a mandatory or voluntary process, are highly inconsistent between countries and regions, ranging from very exhaustive studies to few or no requirements (Read and Fernandes 2003, Telfer et al 2009). In Spain, specific guidelines were developed in order to maintain the ecosystem goods and services provided by the aquaculture activities (FOESA 2011). These guidelines focus on aspects such as the reduction of conversion factors, the compliance codes of good practices in aquaculture and the implementation of Environmental Monitoring Plans (EMPs). Because of the high legislative heterogeneity at regional level, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, through the National Advisory Board of Mariculture (JACUMAR), developed an initiative to unify methodologies, proposing the implementation of site-specific EMPs (Aguado-Giménez et al 2012)
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