MAtchmaking Restoration, Ecology and Aquaculture

Aquaculture expansion is a necessary step to respond to increase protein demands while limiting the reliance on wild fisheries and imports.Bivalve aquaculture is considered to be one of the most sustainable, although some potentially negative environmental impacts arising from high deposition rates of faces and pseudofaces on the seabed have been identified. Habitat restoration management can be integrated within aquaculture practices to limit their negative impacts and it can bring positive environmental changes while obtaining both economical and cultural returns.This project aims to integrate restoration with aquaculture, namely the reintroduction of native flat Oyster reefs under mussels culture sites and harvest oyster spat recruiting as seeds in the original farm area to obtain economical returns and start a local oyster farming chain, while leaving the reef intact to provide ecosystem services. The main aim is to identify the best practices for this integration, in terms of size, stock densities and environmental conditions necessary to obtain maximum benefits in terms of both harvestable product and ecosystem services. This will be done combining modelling and experimental approaches, with a pilot site in the northern Adriatic sea. This approach will be included in the global environmental change scenario, and environmental optimals will be found where is possible to employ these strategies for maximum return in order to extend the theories beyond our study system. The results of this project will benefit mutiple stakeholders, from fishermen to policy to scientists working in similar areas. The outcomes will move forward the concept of integrating practices to obtain greatest sustainability without impeding economical advances. I aim to publish results in the form of scientific peer review articles and as a tool box guideline for best practices.