Assessment of Finfish Aquaculture Impact on the Benthic Communities in the Mediterranean Sea

This manuscript discusses the state–of-the-art investigations related with the benthic impact of marine finfish farms in the Mediterranean. We tackle the ideas from a broad perspective, mentioning issues that are of a widespread importance in marine finfish aquaculture, before putting them into the context of the Mediterranean, with its distinctive and specific characteristics. This document comments the most evident changes related with alteration of chemical parameters and community assemblages but specially focuses on the consequences for the whole ecosystem. We look at current knowledge of the particulate deposition and dispersion rates of aquaculture wastes and the existing related models, and emphasize the previously unconsidered role of wild fish. The carrying capacity of ecosystems influenced by fish farms is discussed. The benthic impact of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) fattening is summarized and compared with the impact of guilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) and sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) rearing. The suitability of using a suite of tools for assessing aquaculture impact is discussed, highlighting the importance of using toxicity tests as a new complementary technique. Ideas and suggested implementations are put into the context of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) guidelines.