ABSTRACT
Aquaculture, tourism and recreation all require similar standards of water and environmental quality and good local infrastructure, so there is potential for conflicts of interest and competition to arise. Marine aquaculture or ‘mariculture’ gives rise to a number of concerns, for example the placement of fish farms within sensitive marine areas, the spread of invasive species, and dependency on industrial catches of wild fish to feed fish in mariculture. The coastal zone bears most of the ecological consequences of aquaculture development. Mangroves and aquaculture are not necessarily incompatible. Marine aquaculture is being practiced in coastal Mediterranean waters but has difficulty in finding locations to compete successfully or to coexist with tourism. The local authority of the Murcia region of Spain made an effort to promote regional planning for aquaculture development. All relevant sectors, including tourism groups, were invited to map areas that each sector considered to be suitable for aquaculture development.
