Converting coastal waters to farmed production of seafood may generate conflicts with other resource users. This study explores the impact of marine aquaculture development on coastal homeowners. Using single-family home sales from 2012–2014 and spatial data on coastal aquaculture activity, we employ hedonics to assess the impacts of mariculture development in three study areas of Maine, USA. Our results suggest modest impacts on residential property values with significant spatial variation across study areas. This spatial variation represents a challenge for managers and highlights the potential benefits from coordinating the development of aquaculture to balance resource users' objectives with industry growth.

Small-scale mariculture of high-value species for trade in remote islands can offer valuable alternative livelihoods to local communities. The endangered giant clam species Tridacna maxima is naturally abundant in some atolls in French Polynesia (FP) and has been the focus of commercial mariculture activities since 2012. Shortly after spat collectors became operational in two atoll lagoons, FP rose to become one of the main exporters of giant clams for the aquarium trade. However, this activity has been threatened recently by a mass clam-bleaching event triggered by the 2015–2016 El Niño. This study reviews the roles that international (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and national regulatory frameworks play in the development of this activity in a small island context, and how they can indirectly promote better science and monitoring in order to inform adaptive management strategies. The links between the nine main groups of stakeholders show the necessary adaptation measures required to mitigate climate-driven mortalities. While this case study remains specific to giant clam farming in FP, general lessons are provided that could help in mitigating economic impacts from climate-related events on other islands.

This study provides the first comprehensive information on the parasite fauna of the white-streaked grouper Epinephelus ongus. A total of 35 specimens from the archipelago Karimunjawa, Java Sea, Indonesia were studied for metazoan parasites. For comparison, the documented parasite community of 521 E. areolatus, E. coioides and E. fuscoguttatus from previous studies were analysed. A total of 17 different parasite taxa were recognized for E. ongus, including 14 new host and four new locality records. This increases the known parasite taxa of E. ongus by more than 80%. The ectoparasite fauna was predominated by the monogenean Pseudorhabdosynochus quadratus resulting in a low Shannon index of species diversity of the entire parasite community (0.17). By contrast, the species diversity excluding the ectoparasites reached the highest value recorded for Indonesian epinephelids (1.93). The endoparasite fauna was predominated by generalists, which are already known from Indonesia. This demonstrates the potential risk of parasite transmission through E. ongus into mariculture and vice versa. One-way analyses of similarity revealed a significantly different parasite community pattern of E. ongus compared with E. areolatus and E. fuscoguttatus as well as minor differences with E. coioides. This finding refers to different habitat preferences of these epinephelids within the analysed size range.

Mariculture is a rapidly developing industrial sector. Generally, fish are maintained in net cages with high density. Cage culture systems allow uncontrolled flow of sea water containing potentially infectious stages of fish parasites. In such culture conditions, prevention of such parasitic infections is difficult for parasites with life cycles that complete within culture sites, among which monogeneans and blood flukes are the most important platyhelminthes. Intense monogenean infections induce respiratory and osmo-regulatory dysfunctions. A variety of control measures have been developed, including freshwater bath treatment and chemotherapy. The potential to control monogenean infections through selective breeding, modified culture techniques to avoid infection, and general fish health management are discussed. It should be noted that mariculture conditions have provided some host-specific monogeneans with a chance to expand their host ranges. Blood flukes sometimes induce mass mortality among farmed fish. In-feed administration of praziquantel is the best solution to treat infected fish. Some cases are described that show how international trade in marine fish has resulted in the spread of hitherto unknown parasites into indigenous farmed and wild fish.

The development and application of genomics has been facilitated in a number of fields by the availability of new methodologies and tools, such as high throughput DNA sequencing and complementary DNA (cDNA) microarrays. Genomic tools are already used in research on commercially important fish and shellfish species. Thousands of expressed sequence tags (EST) are now available for some of these species, and the sequencing of complete genomes of tilapia, cod, salmonids, flatfishes, sea bass and Pacific oyster has been proposed. Microarray technology through simultaneous analysis of the expression of thousands of genes allows the identification of candidate genes involved in the function of multiple physiological, morphological and behavioural traits of interests in organisms and populations from different environments. This paper reviews the current development of genomic technologies, and pinpoints their potential beneficial applications as well as implications for fisheries management and aquaculture.

Improved inland culturing methods for marine invertebrates are the most important prerequisite for the establishment of inbred lines. Here, we study the effects of improved diet on growth rates, survivorship and reproductive activities of the colonial urochordate Botryllus schlosseri, an important model species in a variety of scientific disciplines. Six long-term experiments (6−8 weeks each; 3−8 treatments per experiment) were conducted in an attempt to evaluate 10 different food types alone and in various combinations. We took a hierarchical approach in which some food types were contrasted and the results were used to design the next experimental set with new food types. A mixture of at least two types of diets was superior to any monotonous diet examined. Results were also characterized by high variability between colonies of the same hatch in any studied life history aspect, by the appearance of reproductive sterile colonies in the cultures, high survivorship, fast growing and long-lived colonies. The improved maintenance protocols enabled us to develop the first long-lived (> 6.5 years) inbred line of Botryllus with four successive generations of self-crossed pedigree animals.