unpredictability (production costs, competitive sale prices), and optimizing marketing mainly in terms of logistics (airfreight, cold transport network). Aquaculture
products are still based on a small number of species and markets. Studies on market
integration between capture fisheries and aquaculture are scarce in south Alboran
countries (Morocco and Algeria). In this regard, the national development strategy
“Halieutis Plan” will allow the capitalization of aquaculture potentialities and
alleviate the constraints. The development of aquaculture production would certainly
help to meet increasing seafood demand in Morocco both from consumers and from
restaurant and hotel sectors (DEPF 2006). The aquaculture sector has been analyzed
through its development opportunities and obstacles encountered; it has shown an
enormous potential for development (DEPF 2008). Moreover, the demand for
seafood is in continued increase at the national level, resulting particularly from
demographic growth, change of eating habits, development of catering and tourism,
and also deployment of mass distribution at the national level, forecasting a promising future for the aquaculture sector (DEPF and ANDA 2018).
20.5 Aquaculture in Algeria
In the western basin of the Mediterranean, Algeria’s coastline stretches along a
coastal strip of 1280 km to the south. Twelve percent of this area, about 150 km
between Cape Falcon in the East (35
46
0 23“ N, 0
47’29” W) and Marsa Ben M’hidi
in the West (35
5
0 0“ N, 2
12’16” W), is part of the Alboran Sea. With one of the
largest continental shelves in the country, particularly at Ghazaouet (around 90 km),
and relatively rich waters thanks to the influx of the modified Atlantic water, this part
of the coastline is the most productive for fishing. In fact, about 40% of the national
product of sea fishing (86,600 t in 2013) comes from the Alboran Sea. It is also in
this sea that aquaculture has developed the best in Algeria, with more than 27% of
the projects being exploited, both for fish and shellfish farming.
The width of the submarine coastal border of western Algeria is variable
(Rosfelder 1955; Maurin 1962); it is 10 km off Cape Falcon and nearly 90 km off
Ghazaouet. Up to 5 to 6 nautical miles from the coast, the bottom consists of sand
and rocks, followed by a muddy (soft and grayish) area 2 to 3 miles wide and then a
mixture of coarse shell sand and mud. The major component of the sediments on the
Algerian west coast is represented by the limestone that lines the coastal shelf and the
continental rim precisely in Oran Bay and its surroundings; as for siliceous sediments, these are poorly represented (Leclaire 1972).
The hydrodynamics on the Algerian coast of the Alboran Sea is influenced by the
modified Atlantic water, slightly salty and cold, which enters the surface through the
Strait of Gibraltar. This current crosses the Alboran Sea along the Moroccan coast
and then enters the Algerian basin forming the Algerian coastal current (Millot
1997). It makes a cyclonic course in the western Mediterranean in a layer of a
hundred meters thick from the surface, during which, subject to evaporation and
mixing, it gradually gains in salinity and density. Its salinity thus goes from about
20 Aquaculture in the Alboran Sea
697
products are still based on a small number of species and markets. Studies on market
integration between capture fisheries and aquaculture are scarce in south Alboran
countries (Morocco and Algeria). In this regard, the national development strategy
“Halieutis Plan” will allow the capitalization of aquaculture potentialities and
alleviate the constraints. The development of aquaculture production would certainly
help to meet increasing seafood demand in Morocco both from consumers and from
restaurant and hotel sectors (DEPF 2006). The aquaculture sector has been analyzed
through its development opportunities and obstacles encountered; it has shown an
enormous potential for development (DEPF 2008). Moreover, the demand for
seafood is in continued increase at the national level, resulting particularly from
demographic growth, change of eating habits, development of catering and tourism,
and also deployment of mass distribution at the national level, forecasting a promising future for the aquaculture sector (DEPF and ANDA 2018).
20.5 Aquaculture in Algeria
In the western basin of the Mediterranean, Algeria’s coastline stretches along a
coastal strip of 1280 km to the south. Twelve percent of this area, about 150 km
between Cape Falcon in the East (35
46
0 23“ N, 0
47’29” W) and Marsa Ben M’hidi
in the West (35
5
0 0“ N, 2
12’16” W), is part of the Alboran Sea. With one of the
largest continental shelves in the country, particularly at Ghazaouet (around 90 km),
and relatively rich waters thanks to the influx of the modified Atlantic water, this part
of the coastline is the most productive for fishing. In fact, about 40% of the national
product of sea fishing (86,600 t in 2013) comes from the Alboran Sea. It is also in
this sea that aquaculture has developed the best in Algeria, with more than 27% of
the projects being exploited, both for fish and shellfish farming.
The width of the submarine coastal border of western Algeria is variable
(Rosfelder 1955; Maurin 1962); it is 10 km off Cape Falcon and nearly 90 km off
Ghazaouet. Up to 5 to 6 nautical miles from the coast, the bottom consists of sand
and rocks, followed by a muddy (soft and grayish) area 2 to 3 miles wide and then a
mixture of coarse shell sand and mud. The major component of the sediments on the
Algerian west coast is represented by the limestone that lines the coastal shelf and the
continental rim precisely in Oran Bay and its surroundings; as for siliceous sediments, these are poorly represented (Leclaire 1972).
The hydrodynamics on the Algerian coast of the Alboran Sea is influenced by the
modified Atlantic water, slightly salty and cold, which enters the surface through the
Strait of Gibraltar. This current crosses the Alboran Sea along the Moroccan coast
and then enters the Algerian basin forming the Algerian coastal current (Millot
1997). It makes a cyclonic course in the western Mediterranean in a layer of a
hundred meters thick from the surface, during which, subject to evaporation and
mixing, it gradually gains in salinity and density. Its salinity thus goes from about
20 Aquaculture in the Alboran Sea
697