Matchmaking restoration, ecology and aquaculture
Aquaculture  expansion is a necessary step to respond to increase protein demands while limiting the reliance on wild fisheries and imports.Bivalve aquaculture is considered to be one of the most sustainable, although some potentially negative environmental impacts arising from high deposition rates of faces and pseudofaces on the seabed have been identified.   Habitat restoration management can be integrated within aquaculture practices to limit their negative impacts and it can  bring  positive  environmental  changes while obtaining both economical and cultural returns.This  project aims to integrate  restoration with aquaculture, namely the  reintroduction  of  native  flat  Oyster reefs under mussels culture sites and harvest oyster spat recruiting as seeds in the original farm area to obtain economical returns and start a local oyster farming chain, while leaving the reef intact to provide ecosystem services.  The  main  aim  is  to  identify the best  practices for this integration,  in  terms  of  size,  stock  densities  and  environmental  conditions  necessary  to  obtain  maximum  benefits in terms of both harvestable product and ecosystem services.  This will be done combining modelling and experimental approaches, with a pilot site in the northern Adriatic sea. This approach will be included in the global environmental change scenario, and environmental optimals will be found where is possible to employ these strategies for maximum return in order to extend the theories beyond our study system.   The  results  of  this  project  will  benefit  mutiple  stakeholders,  from  fishermen  to  policy  to  scientists  working  in  similar  areas.  The outcomes  will  move  forward  the  concept  of  integrating  practices  to  obtain  greatest  sustainability  without  impeding  economical  advances.    I  aim  to  publish  results  in  the  form  of  scientific  peer  review  articles and as a tool box guideline for best practices.