A proxy for carrying capacity of Mediterranean aquaculture

In developing a holistic and innovative approach to determining the carrying capacity in marine finfish aquaculture, we carried out a modified Delphi exercise in which we asked industry experts to identify the factors influencing the production levels of the activity under different scenarios. We disseminated and discussed three rounds of questionnaires in sectoral roundtables and workshops with experts, culminating in the development of a simple formula that adapts production levels to the physical, ecological, social and economic conditions of the activity on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. We used this formula to approach the carrying capacity of the system. Based on the developed model and its theoretical application, we estimated the carrying capacity for floating cages on the Spanish Mediterranean coast at 119,404 t—about 1.2 times the current production level of 96,440 t. We therefore concluded that, subject to the execution of an in-situ validation of the model, the production level of floating nurseries on the Spanish Mediterranean coast could be increased by up to 33.5%.

KT-G was funded by a postdoctoral tenure program Juan de la Cierva Formación (FJCI-2014-20100) and Juan de la Cierva Incorporación (IJCI-2017-34174) funded by Spanish National Research Agency. This study was funded by the Projects “Environmental Innovation Measures for the Development and Establishment of Protocols for Carrying Capacity for Aquaculture Sustainability (MIMECCA)”; “Marine Aquaculture Carrying Capacity Applied Models (MACCAM)”; “GLObal change Resilience in Aquaculture-2 (GLORiA2),” supported by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, through the Pleamar Program and co-financed by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). It is also part of the LIFE IP INTEMARES Project “Integrated, innovative and participatory management of the Natura 2000 Network in the Spanish marine environment”. This study forms part of the ThinkInAzul programme and was supported by MCIN with funding from European Union NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17·I1) and by Generalitat Valenciana (THINKINAZUL/2021/044-TOWARDS).