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Abstract
Marine aquaculture, particularly cage culture, along Vietnam’s coastal areas, has been rapidly developing but is facing significant pressure from pollution originating from industry, tourism, domestic waste, and the farming activities themselves. Benthic fauna are recognized as suitable bioindicators of environmental quality. Globally, numerous biotic indices based on benthic community composition have been developed and successfully applied, such as the BOPA, BENTIX and AMBI, which classifies benthic species into five ecological groups according to their tolerance to organic enrichment and pollution, reflecting environmental conditions ranging from “very good” to “extremely polluted”. Studies conducted in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea have demonstrated that the AMBI index is highly effective in assessing the degree of impact from cage culture activities on benthic environments.
In Vietnam, however, environmental monitoring programs still rely mainly on physicochemical parameters, while biological indices have been applied only to a limited extent. Biological indicators, particularly AMBI, are promising tools that provide more comprehensive and sensitive assessments of environmental conditions than traditional chemical and physical methods. Therefore, it is essential to integrate biotic indices such as AMBI into regular monitoring programs and to establish a biological observation network for key aquaculture areas. This will enable early detection of pollution, promote sustainable aquaculture management, and protect Vietnam’s coastal marine ecosystems.
Keywords: Biological indicators, ecological species groups, cage culture areas