Offshore aquaculture as climate change adaptation in coastal areas: sea surface temperature trends in the Western Mediterranean Sea

The warming of the Mediterranean Sea surface is currently estimated to have been
0.4°C per decade for the period 1985−2006, and the increase in water temperature may have negatively affected marine aquaculture. Development of aquaculture without adequate planning can lead to unsustainable economic feasibility due to future climate stressors. In this sense, offshore mariculture could be an alternative for mitigating the effect of coastal warming. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the suitability of the coastline in terms of global warming and sea surface temperature trends in locations where fish aquaculture is currently being developed, as well as the spatial changes of thermal anomalies up to 30 km from the coast, during the last 31 yr in the western Mediterranean (Spanish coast).