Natacha Nogueira

The way the media portrays aquaculture-related events can influence how this industry is perceived by the public and affect its success. Since media are an important source of public information, media content analysis has been carried out in several regions of the world. This study aimed to determine which aspects of aquaculture were more exposed and how they were discussed by regional media in the Madeira archipelago, an oceanic group of Portuguese islands. Analysis of aquaculture’s media coverage in the two most-read regional newspapers of Madeira was carried out over a 5-year period (2017 to 2021). For each news article, the assessment focused on the geographic scope, the main topics covered, the stakeholders with access to the debate, and the general tone of the article (risk/benefit framework). A total of 297 articles were analyzed. Results indicate the occurrence of trigger events that contributed to a shift in the amount of news published and in the way media framed aquaculture. In general, political and economic issues dominated the coverage, whereas social, environmental, scientific, and landscape matters received less media attention. The voice of the government was predominant throughout the 5 years in analysis and aquaculture was generally framed with a balanced tone, slightly more negative. Open and transparent communication between the stakeholders and the media is fundamental for the sustainable development of the aquaculture industry.

Copepods are alternative candidates to traditional live feeds used in marine hatcheries and food quality and type are recognized factors that influence copepods culture success. In this study, we evaluated the effects of feeding the calanoid Acartia grani with two microalgae - Rhodomonas marina and T-Isochrysis sp. - and one dinoflagellate (Oxyrrhis marina). Results showed that reproductive parameters were improved when R. marina was included in the diets, but the higher number of adults was found when O. marina was combined with R. marina. According to the life stage of the copepod different combinations of diets would be recommended.