Chapter 3
Aquaculture and Coastal Space Management
in Europe: An Ecological Perspective
Tim Dempster
1, * and Pablo Sanchez-Jerez
2
1 SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway.
E-mail: tim.dempster@sintef.no
2 Department of Marine Sciences and Applied Biology, University of Alicante, P.O. Box 99,
E-03080-Alicante, Spain. E-mail: psanchez@ua.es
*Corresponding author
Abstract Coastal aquaculture is widespread in Europe and there is a need for
proper coastal space management among the different users of the coastal zone.
Integration of aquaculture into coastal space entails both siting installations in
physical space in relation to the existing network of coastal users, such as shipping,
fishing, recreational activities and other industry, and ensuring that the extent of
aquaculture does not lead to widespread changes to coastal ecosystems. Where the
competition for space is particularly intense, political decisions, which simultaneously seek to minimize both environmental impacts and user conflict, may be the
only mechanism to allocate space to new aquaculture installations. From an ecological perspective, better integration of aquaculture into European coastal space
so that ecological carrying capacities are not exceeded requires knowledge-based
management of the interaction of ecological impacts of aquaculture with those
of other coastal users, particularly concerning nutrient loading, and modification
to biodiversity and species that are important to fisheries. Geographical information systems (GIS) are proven tools for natural resource management and space
planning and are suggested to be used for planning aquaculture’s integration into
European coastal areas.
Keywords Farm siting, fish aggregation, marine protected area, wild fish
3.1 Coastal Aquaculture in Europe
Coastal aquaculture farms are ubiquitous in many European countries. Sea-cages
hold over 1 million tons of fish while hundreds of thousands of tons of mussels,
oysters and clams are grown on suspended ropes, racks or trays (FAO 2006). The
M. Holmer et al. (eds.), Aquaculture in the Ecosystem.
87
© 2008 Springer
Aquaculture and Coastal Space Management
in Europe: An Ecological Perspective
Tim Dempster
1, * and Pablo Sanchez-Jerez
2
1 SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture, NO-7465 Trondheim, Norway.
E-mail: tim.dempster@sintef.no
2 Department of Marine Sciences and Applied Biology, University of Alicante, P.O. Box 99,
E-03080-Alicante, Spain. E-mail: psanchez@ua.es
*Corresponding author
Abstract Coastal aquaculture is widespread in Europe and there is a need for
proper coastal space management among the different users of the coastal zone.
Integration of aquaculture into coastal space entails both siting installations in
physical space in relation to the existing network of coastal users, such as shipping,
fishing, recreational activities and other industry, and ensuring that the extent of
aquaculture does not lead to widespread changes to coastal ecosystems. Where the
competition for space is particularly intense, political decisions, which simultaneously seek to minimize both environmental impacts and user conflict, may be the
only mechanism to allocate space to new aquaculture installations. From an ecological perspective, better integration of aquaculture into European coastal space
so that ecological carrying capacities are not exceeded requires knowledge-based
management of the interaction of ecological impacts of aquaculture with those
of other coastal users, particularly concerning nutrient loading, and modification
to biodiversity and species that are important to fisheries. Geographical information systems (GIS) are proven tools for natural resource management and space
planning and are suggested to be used for planning aquaculture’s integration into
European coastal areas.
Keywords Farm siting, fish aggregation, marine protected area, wild fish
3.1 Coastal Aquaculture in Europe
Coastal aquaculture farms are ubiquitous in many European countries. Sea-cages
hold over 1 million tons of fish while hundreds of thousands of tons of mussels,
oysters and clams are grown on suspended ropes, racks or trays (FAO 2006). The
M. Holmer et al. (eds.), Aquaculture in the Ecosystem.
87
© 2008 Springer