Potential Impacts of Mediterranean Mytilus GalloprovincialisMussel Farming in a Specific Area of Aegean Sea

Intensive mussel cultures have an negative impact on the quality of the aquatic environment, mainly by depositing faeces, pseudo faeces and dead mussels in the sediments.Biodeposition can alter the characteristics of the sediment below culture systems.The organic enrichment of sediment under the mussel culture results in a reduction of dissolved oxygen in the water, with undesirable effects in mussel production and in water quality of the aquatic environment.The aim of this research is to present the impact of long line Mediterranean mussel culture of Mytilus Galloprovincialis in aquatic ecosystem.Our results demonstrate the organic enrichment of mussel culture in relation to the reference area and to the coast, resulting in the lower concentrations of dissolved oxygen in the water.The release of P-PO4 under the mussel culture and the lower concentrations of chlorophyll-a due to the consumption of phytoplankton organisms by mussels were also confirmed.Finally, the concentrations of nitrogen nitrite and nitrate didn't show statistically a remarkable change.