engleski

IMTA VS. TRADITIONAL MUSSEL CULTURE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN (PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE PROJECT INOVaDA)

The major part of the Mediterranean, including its most northernmost part, the Adriatic sea is oligotrophic and therefore unsuitable to support the commercial aquaculture of bivalves (Sara et al. 1999). Therefore, most of the production is settled in areas close to freshwater inputs, such as river estuaries, lagoons and other more eutrophic sites. During the last decade numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits and potentials to increase economical, ecological and social accessibility of Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (IMTA) (Troell et al. 2009 ; 2011 ; and references within). The main target organisms in these studies were finfish (such as salmon), bivalves (such as mussels) and seaweed. However, in the oligotrophic Mediterranean, and especially in the Adriatic Sea, there are only several studies regarding the potential of IMTA for producing high quality sea food products. Peharda et al. (2007) found that the production cycle of the mussels in IMTA conditions in the Adriatic Sea is the same as in other sites in the area, while condition index was improved compared to the control sites. The aim of this research is to move one step forward and test the hypothesis that IMTA produced mussels in the oligotrophic environment are equal in terms of growth rates, condition index and other quality parameters to those produced at sites traditional for bivalve farming in this Adriatic Sea. Here we present the preliminary data from the project INOVaDa – Investigation of quality and promotion of mussels from the Novigrad sea, funded through European social fund. Experiment was set up in September 2015 at four different sites: a seabass/seabream farm located in the Central Adriatic (IMTA site), Starigrad (open sea site), Novigrad Sea (traditional site at estuary) and Krka estuary. Our preliminary results indicate that all sites have enough food availability to support the growth of bivalves (Peharda et al. 2007 ; Župan et al. 2014). However, results of condition index and stable isotopic composition promote traditional site close to the river estuaries (such as Novigrad sea) as more suitable in terms of meat yield, probably the most important factor from the consumers point of view. Due to a short duration of the study data presented must be considered preliminary. The study will continue throughout the year, including the most important period of tourist season from May to September to compare the productive results from these different sites.

Integrated multitrophic aquaculture; IMTA; mussel aquaculture; Novigrad sea; INOVaDA

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