Adaptation of fish farming production to the environmental characteristics of the receiving marine ecosystems: A proxy to carrying capacity

In order to produce a new regulatory scheme for the fish farming industry in Greece, a Delphi exercise, asking a large number of experts to provide multiplication factors for the production for farms exposing at deeper, offshore and more exposed sites, was used. A simple formula was developed, taking into account the responses of the 31 experts, and three scenarios were derived by using different percentiles for each one of the factors. The system was discussed with a very broad spectrum of stakeholders and was evaluated by an international panel of experts. The results presented here were used as a basis for a ministerial decision which has been the regulatory framework for fish farming in Greece since 2009. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.