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Environmental quality assessment of the fish farms’ impact in the Monastir Bay (eastern of Tunisia, Central Mediterranean): a benthic foraminiferal perspective

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Abstract

Offshore fish farms have been active inside the Monastir Bay, Hammemet Gulf for over 10 years, but their environmental impact is still unknown. This study focuses on the evaluation of the fish farming activity impact in the Monastir Bay as revealed by geochemical and benthic foraminiferal data. Samples were collected around three fish cages at different water depths. Total organic carbon (TOC) and total phosphate (TP) in the sediment show higher values beneath the fish cages and decrease proportionally with distance from the cages. Living foraminiferal assemblages around fish farms are dominated by stress-tolerant species with higher abundances of Ammonia tepida, Rosalina bradyi, Elphidium crispum, and Peneroplis planatus. On the basis of our results, A. tepida and Quinqueloculina seminula are confirmed to be tolerant to elevated nutriment content, while Ammonia parkinsoniana seems to be more sensitive to organic enrichment. We also test the Foram-AMBI that is revealed to be a very promising tool by which evaluating the ecological quality status of marine sediment. The results of the present study confirm the suitability of living benthic foraminifera as bioindicators of organic enrichment induced by aquaculture activities.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank “Laboratoire des Sciences de l’Environnement”, LARSEN’s team for being so helpful and generous allowing us the chance to carry out geochemical analyses. The authors would like to thank Dr. Fabrizio Frontalini and Dr. Manel Ben Ismail (Director of Notre Grand Bleu and Doctor in Biological Sciences and Biotechnology) for their scientific and technical support and assistance in the field.

Funding

This research was supported by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) under the direction of “Notre Grand Bleu” association.

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  1. Laboratoire de Génie de l’Environnement et Écotechnologie (GEET), École National des Ingénieurs Sfax ENIS, Université de Sfax, BP 1173, 3038, Sfax, Tunisia

    Mohamed Damak, Rania Fourati, Boubaker Elleuch & Monem Kallel

  2. Association Notre Grand Bleu (NGO), Cap Marina, 5000, Monastir, Tunisia

    Mohamed Damak

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  1. Mohamed Damak
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Damak, M., Fourati, R., Elleuch, B. et al. Environmental quality assessment of the fish farms’ impact in the Monastir Bay (eastern of Tunisia, Central Mediterranean): a benthic foraminiferal perspective. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 9059–9074 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07523-7

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