The influence of finfish aquaculture on demersal benthic fish and crustacean 1 assemblages in

15 The influence of sea-cage aquaculture on wildfish assemblages has received little attention 16 outside of Europe. Sea-cage aquaculture of finfish is a major focus in South Australia, and 17 while the main species farmed is southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii), there is also an 18 important yellowtail kingfish (Seriola lalandi) industry. Yellowtail kingfish aquaculture did 19 not appear to have any local or regional effects on demersal benthic fish and crustacean 20 assemblages (primarily fish, but also some crustaceans) surveyed by downward pointing 21 baited remote underwater video (BRUV) in Fitzgerald Bay. We did, however, detect small 22 scale spatial variations in assemblages within the bay. The type of bait used strongly 23 influenced the assemblage recorded, with Ssignificantly greater numbers of fish were 24 attracted to deployments where sardines were used as the bait to compared to those with no 25 bait. The pelleted feed used by the aquaculture industry was just as attractive as sardine baits 26 at one site, and intermediate between sardines and no bait at the other. There was significant 27 temporal variability in assemblages at both farm sites and one control site over the 9 weeks of 28 the study, suggesting that natural seasonal variations were more important than feed inputs 29 associated with aquaculture in structuring the surveyed assemblages, although while the 30 second control site was temporally stable (over the 9 weeks of the study). Overall, the results 31 suggested that aquaculture was having little if any impact on the abundance and assemblage 32 structure of the demersal macrofaunabenthic fish and crustaceans in Fitzgerald Bay. 33 34 Commented [MJC1]: I do not think this statement is justified by the results