PORIFERA IN THE REMEDIA LIFE INTEGRATED MULTITROPHIC AQUACULTURE (IMTA) SYSTEM

Abstract

The co-cultivation of sponges near mariculture facilities in floating cages represents a promising practice that can contribute to the development of new Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture systems (IMTA) aimed at building sustainable, resilient and competitive aquaculture.Therefore, in the IMTA system tested within the EU funded REMEDIA Life project, carried out in the Mar Grande of Taranto, different rearing methods and different sponge species were tested in order to detect those with the best performance in such conditions. Three sponge rearing cycles have been followed. Our results showed that explants reared on suspended ropes at least doubled their initial volume within the first 12 rearing months, with annual survival rate exceeding 90%. Results obtained on bioremediation capability also suggested the possibility to design effective multitrophic systems to minimize some microbial impacts of marine aquaculture.