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Relative effects of nutrient emission from intensive cage aquaculture on the semiarid reservoir water quality

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Abstract

The effects of cage aquaculture on freshwater ecosystems are determined by multiple farming and environmental variables, and thus, the assessment of a wide range of abiotic and biotic variables enables better understanding of the impacts generated by this nutrient source. This study was carried out at Castanhão reservoir located in the State of Ceará, which is the largest Brazilian producer of Nile tilapia in cage systems, wherein about 8000 reservoirs provide a vast area to expand not only this important socio-economic but also pollution-prone activity. Nutrient mass budget, water quality monitoring, hydrodynamic characterization, and elemental/stable isotopic composition of end-member products were measured in cage aquaculture and other reservoir areas in order to determine the relative effects on reservoir conditions. Nutrient budgets showed that 34 % of the artificial feed was lost to the water column but water quality monitoring and isotopic composition analysis suggested that the cages were not extensively impacting the water quality probably because of the physiographic and hydrodynamic features of the cage site.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by DCR program from National Research Council of Brazil (CNPq) and Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (FUNCAP) (1514-14 CV. 016/2005, Proc. No. 222/04). FUNCAP/CNPq/UFC also provides PIBIC grants to undergraduate students Thiago M. do Monte and George H. Vasconcellos. We are grateful to the Departamento Nacional de Obras Contra a Seca (DNOCS/Ceará) to provide logistical help in the Castanhão reservoir. Thanks are due to the community of Curupati-peixe to make the information about the cage fish farming available.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Núcleo em Ecologia e Desenvolvimento Sócio-Ambiental de Macaé (NUPEM), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) campus Macaé, Macaé, RJ, CEP: 27965-045, Brazil

    Mauricio Mussi Molisani

  2. Instituto de Ciências do Mar (LABOMAR), Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil

    Thiago Maia do Monte, George Harrison Vasconcellos, Hortência de Souza Barroso & Maria Odete Parente Moreira

  3. Departamento de Química Analítica e Físico-Química, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil

    Helena Becker

  4. Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil

    Carlos Eduardo de Rezende & Marcos Alberto Lima Franco

  5. Departamento de Engenharia de Pesca, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Laguna, SC, Brazil

    Eduardo Guilherme Gentil de Farias

  6. Laboratório de Ecologia Isotópica, Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Plínio Barbosa de Camargo

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  1. Mauricio Mussi Molisani
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  2. Thiago Maia do Monte
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  3. George Harrison Vasconcellos
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  4. Hortência de Souza Barroso
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  5. Maria Odete Parente Moreira
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  6. Helena Becker
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  7. Carlos Eduardo de Rezende
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Correspondence to Mauricio Mussi Molisani.

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Molisani, M.M., do Monte, T.M., Vasconcellos, G.H. et al. Relative effects of nutrient emission from intensive cage aquaculture on the semiarid reservoir water quality. Environ Monit Assess 187, 707 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4925-4

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