title: Do benthic biofilters contribute to sustainability and restoration of the benthic environment impacted by offshore cage finfish aquaculture?
abstract: Benthic biofilters were deployed under a cage fish farm and in two reference locations to assess the influence of the farm on the biofilters and the surroundings, as well as to verify the usefulness of this technology as a mitigation tool. The biofilters underneath the farm recruited a fouling community practically identical to that of the control biofilters, which included a variety of trophic strategies. The former showed a higher 15N enrichment, indicating that fouling beneath the farm was benefiting from the farm waste. The waste retention efficiency was low (0.02 g N m(-2) month(-1)) beneath the farm. Benthic biofilters aggregated demersal wild fish around and within them. Pelagic wild fish also frequently used the biofilters beneath the farm, forming compact shoals around them. The increased complexity of the habitat below the fish farm enhanced biodiversity, but this improvement did not lead to the recovery of the sediments around the biofilters.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDA), Estación de Acuicultura Marina, Puerto de San Pedro del Pinatar, 30740 Murcia, Spain. felipe.aguado@carm.es
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aguado-Giménez
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Piedecausa
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carrasco
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Aliaga
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: García-García
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation; D005398:Fisheries; D005399:Fishes; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis; D008386:Marine Biology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D013030:Spain; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants