Planning and monitoring of aquaculture activities

Aquaculture

Our main expertise is the development of tools for supporting the sustainable management of aquaculture activities.

Identification of AZA (Allocated Zone to Aquaculture)

The identification of areas primarily allocated to aquaculture is of paramount importance for the success of the Blue Growth EU initiative.

In the EU, AZA should be established within the broader context of maritime spatial planning: EU Directive XXX is currently being implemented by EU member states.

We have developed an integrated approach to AZA selection, based on data from satellite and operational oceanography, mathematical models and multi-criteria analysis.

Maritime Spatial Planning

Making Space for aquaculture

Minimizing use conflicts

Multi-Criteria Analysis

Monitoring and assessment of the environmental quality

This service aims at assessing the impact of off-shore fish farms on water column and seabed.

The release of dissolved nitrogen and organic matter from off-shore fish culture could increase the concentration of dissolved inroganic nitrogen and phosphorus in the water column and surface sediment. Nutrient enrichment may lead to eutrophication and changes in surface sediment biogeochemistry.

We can predict such changes and their impact on the pelagic and benthic ecosystems surrounding a fish farm using the “xxxxx ” integrated model:

Increase in dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus;

Organic enrichment of surface sediment;

Risk of anoxias in surface sediment;

Environmental Quality Standards, i.e. AMBI index for the benthic community.

Our models are spatially explicit and dynamic: we can map a set of impact indicators in relation to:

Stocking density, stocked biomass, feed composition and feeding regime

Water temperature

Depth

Local hydrodynamic circulation, based on dataset collecte on site

Questa informazione è utile sia per l’allevatore in fase di predisposizione dell’impianto, che per il decisore, che si trova ad affrontare il problema della concessione di nuove aree.