Environmental impact of capture-based bluefin tuna aquaculture on benthic communities in the western Mediterranean

Tuna farming is based on fishing bluefin tuna in their natural habit of the western Mediterranean and fattening them in floating cages. Although this type of aquaculture is expanding rapidly in the Mediterranean Sea, very little information is available for an environmental impact assessment and environmental monitoring of tuna ranching. Spatial and temporal scales of impact need to be established before the norms and regulations affecting this new branch of aquaculture can be properly implemented. The biotic indices measured pointed to detectable impact only under the cages, although multivariate techniques defined an environmental gradient of stressed macrofaunal assemblages. The benthic surveys carried out indicated that high impact was restricted to a radius of roughly 5 m from the cages with a transitional radius at 35 m. This zone was characterized by high densities of opportunistic species. There was a further zone of moderately stressed benthic environment extending to about 180–220 m from the cages. This moderately stressed zone exhibited slight changes in community structure, because the densities of some species were stimulated. At distances greater than 220 m from the tuna farm, the system apparently returned to normal conditions. The fallow period produced partial remediation of the area affected, except in the sediment underneath the cages where even a 6‐month fallow period was not sufficient for the community to totally recover.