Preprint volume - SIBM

Pre-print Volume – Oral presentations
Topic 3: INTEGRATED COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT
E. CECERE, M. ACQUAVIVA, M. BELMONTE, F. BIANDOLINO, R.A. CAVALLO, R. LO NOCE,
M. NARRACCI, A. PETROCELLI, P. RICCI, L. STABILI, G. ALABISO
Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero (IAMC) – CNR, Via Roma, 3 – 74100 Taranto, Italia.
ester.cecere@iamc.cnr.it
SEAWEEDS AND AQUACULTURE: AN INDISPENSABLE ALLIANCE
FOR THE INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF COASTAL ZONE
LE MACROALGHE MARINE E L’ACQUACOLTURA: UN CONNUBIO
STRATEGICO NELLA GESTIONE INTEGRATA DELLA FASCIA COSTIERA
Abstract – Seaweed cultivation in aquaculture plant effluents can reduce the impact of farming activities on
coastal waters so making aquaculture an eco-sustainable activity. In this respect, the capability of nitrogen
uptake, the fatty acid composition and the antimicrobial activity of six seaweeds from the Apulian coasts
were investigated. They proved to be good bioremediators as well as a suitable feed for reared species due
to the presence of essential fatty acids and the antimicrobial activity of their lipidic extracts.
Key-words: ammonium uptake, antimicrobial activity, bioremediation, fatty acids, seaweeds.
Introduction – Marine macroalgae can be successfully used to reduce the impact of
aquaculture activities on the coastal zone; indeed, due to their capability to uptake
phosphorus and nitrogen salts, these last even as ammonium, seaweeds can strongly
reduce these salts concentrations in the fish farm effluents, where they are usually very
high (Hernández et al., 2002). These wastes, when discharged into coastal waters,
cause their eutrophication and the consequent undesirable well known phenomena (e.g.
algal blooms, ipoxia, etc.). Moreover, macroalgal biomass resulting from the
bioremediation process could be used for the preparation of innovative feeds (Valente
et al., 2006), drugs and fertilizers thus resulting in an added value. Therefore, seaweeds
could increase and diversify the income of aquaculture farms, making aquaculture an
eco-sustainable activity (Neori, 2009). Despite this, abroad seaweeds were usually
cultivated to this aim at a pilot plant level and, only rarely, at industrial scale in
aquaculture plants (Hernández et al., 2002). In Italy, the interest for this kind of
research has always been scarce (Cecere, 2006) and is still scarce even though at the
end of the ‘70s, some researchers realized the potential importance of seaweeds as
bioremediators (Giaccone et al., 1979). In this paper, we present the ongoing studies in
the frame of a large multidisciplinary project for the exploitation of the macroalgae
present along the Apulian coasts. One of the aim of the project is to realize integrated
polyculture farms in order to make aquaculture a friendly environmental activity in the
view of the integrated management of coastal zone.
Materials and methods – The following 6 species: Gracilaria dura (C. Agardh) J.
Agardh, G. gracilis (Stackhouse) Steentoft, L.M. Irvine et Farnham and Gracilariopsis
longissima (S.G. Gmelin) Steentoft, L.M. Irvine et Farnham (Gracilariales,
Rhodophyta), Cystoseira barbata (Stackhouse) C. Agardh (Cystoseiraceae,
Ochrophyta), Cladophora rupestris (Linnaeus) Kützing and Chaetomorpha linum (O.F.
Müller) Kützing (Cladophorales, Chlorophyta) from the Apulian coasts were examined
to detect the: 1) ammonium uptake capability both in N-limited and N-replete status in
lab tests (for methods see Alabiso et al., 2007, 2008); 2) lipidic and fatty acids
composition of both winter and summer thalli to test suitability for feed (for methods
41 st S.I.B.M. CONGRESS Rapallo (GE), 7-11 June 2010
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