Parasites in Aquaculture: A Mediterranean Overview

Trabajo presentado en la NIOF 6th International Conference Coast to Ocean: Prioritary Actions and Investments, celebrada en Aljandría (Egipto) del 12 al 14 de febrero de 2019.Fish aquaculture has increasingly gained relevance in the last decades as an alternative to severely depauperated fisheries stocks. In the Mediterranean region, the production of a few marine species in Western Europe has grown and matured to a sustainable animal production industry generating healthy products with a minimum ecological footprint. However, the optimization of processes at all levels has led to a growing impact of diseases as bottlenecks of production in many cases. Among these, parasite infections can be especially fastidious and their management problematic. Differently to the more mature and monothematic Atlantic Salmon production industry in Northern Europe, the Mediterranean region encompasses many countries and cultures with different traditions related to fish, in which assorted species and production models can be found, and in which parasites can have a relatively higher impact compared to other etiologies. This presentation reviews some of the most relevant parasitic infections in current Mediterranean marine aquaculture, as a way to illustrate the challenges of parasite management in a growing and cost-constrained industry. The multiple research opportunities that can emerge from this activity are highlighted