Professor Pablo Sanchez Jerez
Interaction between wild and farmed fish: effect of offshore fish farms on wild stocks
Job Title: Research Group
Employer: University of Alicante
Biography
Doctorate on conservation of benthic marine ecosystems on 1997, he has developed an important part of his research on management of artificial
reefs and marine protected areas, and is currently senior lecture of Oceanography at the University of Alicante (Spain). During the last the years, he has led the Laboratory of Environmental Management of Aquaculture of the Department of Marine Science and Applied Biology at University of Alicante. His research has been focus on the ecological effects of aquaculture on wild fish population and local fisheries, the prevention and ecological effects of escapes and the selection of sustainability indicators.
Abstract
Coastal aquaculture has expanded due to the development of fish farms using net pens or cages and concentrates a large number of fish species of both ecological and economic importance around them. In this respect, the aggregative effect of sea-cages on wild fish populations appears analogous to Fish Aggregation Devices but with a high input of food. The high food availability, mainly pellets and particulate organic matter, enlarge trophic resources in the vicinity of the farms for fish populations, but negative effects can also happen, such as the modification of fat metabolism or the increase of parasites. Additionally, coastal farming can influence positively on local fisheries, increasing captures.
