Evaluation of salmon farming effects on marine systems in the inner seas of southern Chile: a large-scale mensurative experiment
By D. Soto, F. Norambuena. 2004
190 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Summary The impact of salmon farming on the environment has been widely studied; there is, however, no consensus on the magnitude and quality of these effects and little information on their extent over large salmon farming areas. Forty-three salmon farm sites of which 29 are in full operation and grouped in nine locations in southern Chile were evaluated. Using statistical methods (two-way ANOVA), no effects were found on water column variables such as nitrate, ammonia, orthophosphate and chlorophyll, whereas they were significant on sediment variables such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and organic carbon (OC), among others. Natural variability evaluation of some parameters revealed that P in sediments had the lowest coefficient of variation (23.2%) when compared with N (65.2%), particulate organic matter (POM) (139%) and OC (39%), and showed more marked salmon farming effects with no locality effects. Four of the nine locations showed stronger effects on sediments, with average P values ranging from 150 to 230 mmol that were six to nine times higher than in control sites (25 mmol). Nitrogen and carbon in sediments, while showing significant effects on salmon farming, also showed locality effects that revealed other biogenic processes influencing sediment composition. Thus, P in sediments was proposed as a promising indicator of impact on salmon farming, although the relationship with fauna in sediments was not linear and somewhat variable; more research is therefore needed to understand such connections. Considering entire geographical locations, no relationship was found between sediment conditions under salmon cages and the condition of the water column at a farm. This may indicate the possibility of high dilution rates and recycling processes, which so far preclude the detection of more global impacts beyond the cages shadow.
Subfields: Aquatic Science, Global and Planetary Change
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bf75e4365ceaa3f88919193b2aa31a862a797448
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In Aquatic Science
In Global and Planetary Change
Citations in the corpus
- Aquaculture Production and Biodiversity Conservation (2009, background): “For example, a study of 43 Chilean fish farms found negative effects on benthic invertebrates in the fallout zone (Soto and Norambuena 2004); in contrast, diversity and production of pelagic fishes in the surrounding waters increased.”
- Salmon aquaculture and coastal ecosystem health in Chile: Analysis of regulations, environmental impacts and bioremediation systems (2009, background): “It is well established that organic waste from salmon farms changes the physio-chemical properties and changes microflora biodiversity of benthic sediments [11,13,14,18,19].”
- Opportunities and challenges for the development of an integrated seaweed-based aquaculture activity in Chile: determining the physiological capabilities of Macrocystis and Gracilaria as biofilters (2008, background): “Nevertheless, the increase of production, especially salmon farming, is causing increasing concern related to environmental impacts, such as benthic effects (Soto and Norambuena 2004), fish escapees (Soto et al.”
- Site selection for shellfish aquaculture by means of GIS and farm-scale models, with an emphasis on data-poor environments (2011, background): “As an example, the uncontrolled expansion of salmon aquaculture in Chile over two decades had, by 2006, resulted in a range of negative environmental effects such as: (i) significant loss of benthic biodiversity; (ii) localized changes in the physico-chemical characteristics of sediments; (iii) cont”