Marine aquaculture is expanding offshore, where the environmental interactions are not yet fully understood. We performed a benthic environmental assessment of an offshore fish farm on unconsolidated sediment. The physicochemical variables showed marked changes just under the fish farm, although the structure of the community and its bioturbation potential were not influenced. Under no or minimum influence from the fish farm, the physicochemical variables, including acid-volatile sulphides and redox, were notably different to those found in unaffected coastal areas. For this reason, classifications of the environmental status based on physicochemical variables should be adapted to offshore areas. Despite the low degree of impact detected, the organic matter carrying capacity should be carefully determined to avoid environmental drawbacks in terms of fine-grained offshore sediments. Offshore aquaculture could have a lower environmental impact than other types of aquaculture located closer to the coast, but further research is needed to obtain conclusive results.

海洋水产养殖正在近海扩展，那里的环境相互作用尚未完全了解。我们对松散沉积物的近海养鱼场进行了底栖环境评估。尽管群落结构及其生物扰动潜力没有受到影响，但物理化学变量在养鱼场下方显示出显着变化。在不受养鱼场影响或影响很小的情况下，物理化学变量，包括酸挥发性硫化物和氧化还原，与未受影响的沿海地区发现的显着不同。因此，基于物理化学变量的环境状态分类应适用于近海区域。尽管检测到的影响程度较低，应仔细确定有机物承载能力，以避免细粒近海沉积物对环境造成不利影响。与靠近海岸的其他类型的水产养殖相比，离岸水产养殖对环境的影响可能较小，但需要进一步研究以获得结论性结果。