Abstract
The recent increase of the local population of gilthead seabream, Sparus aurata, in three areas along the southeastern Adriatic Sea: Malostonski Bay (Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina), Neretva Estuary (Croatia) and Boka Kotorska Bay (Montenegro) and its adverse effects on shellfish culture by preying on Mediterranean mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis, and the European flat oyster, Ostrea edulis, are studied. The results from the analysis of the existing information show that the main reason for the recent increase is the escapes from local fish farm which enrich the local population constantly with new gilthead sea bream. The existence of practically endless food in the area of the shellfish farms allows the concentration of the population in the region instead of its dispersion along the Adriatic coast. Moreover, ecological analysis indicates that the gilthead seabream is facing a very low competition from other local species which enhances its capacity to further populate the region. While the impact on the ecosystem is not yet known, the socio-economic impact of the increase of the gilthead seabream population is evident today. Many shellfish farms are closing today in the region since the damages may reach over 90 % of the production.
Highlights
The gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata Linnaeus 1759, Sparidae) is a euryhaline and eurythermal perciform fish that inhabits the Atlantic European coast from Portugal to the United Kingdom, the Mediterranean and theBlack Seas (Jardas 1996)
The study was based on data originating from three areas: Malostonski Bay and Neretva Estuary (Croatia) and Boka Kotorska Bay (Montenegro)
The results show that the gilthead seabream shows negative association with 12 of the 31 species (Table 1)
Summary
The gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata Linnaeus 1759, Sparidae) is a euryhaline and eurythermal perciform fish that inhabits the Atlantic European coast from Portugal to the United Kingdom, the Mediterranean and theBlack Seas (Jardas 1996). The fish recruit in lagoons and estuaries and later spread along the coast and islands. It feeds mainly on molluscs and crustaceans (Jardas 1996). In the period 1960–1988, the gilthead seabream represented only 0.2–0.5 % of the catch with gillnets (Jardas and Pallaoro 1993). Cetinić and Pallaoro (1993) reported a similar low frequency (0.05 %) of gilthead seabream in catches of traditional rope-tramata nets. These results pointed to the conclusion that gilthead seabream was rare in catches along the Eastern Adriatic coast in the period 1960–2000, with an average annual catch of 58 t in whole Croatia (Kraljević 2010)
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