Hui Liu , Shiqiang Huang

Tropical Animal Resources Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572000, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2026, Vol. 16, No. 5   
Received: 12 Aug., 2026    Accepted: 16 Sep., 2026    Published: 30 Oct., 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Sustainable marine aquaculture requires effective management of water quality while maintaining animal health and production efficiency. In intensive and high-density farming systems, the accumulation of organic matter, nutrients, and toxic nitrogenous compounds, together with fluctuations in temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and salinity, can destabilize the aquatic environment and increase physiological stress and disease susceptibility in cultured animals. This review summarizes recent approaches to water environment optimization and animal health evaluation within sustainable marine aquaculture systems. Particular attention is given to the dynamic interactions among physicochemical conditions, nutrient cycling, sediment-water processes, microbial communities, and animal physiological responses. Conventional approaches, including aeration, water exchange, biological filtration, probiotics, and ecological regulation, are discussed together with advanced systems such as recirculating aquaculture systems, biofloc technology, integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, and resource-recovery approaches. The effects of environmental stress on animal metabolism, oxidative balance, immune responses, tissue integrity, growth, and disease susceptibility are also examined. In addition to conventional growth and survival indicators, biochemical, immunological, histological, molecular, and microbiome-based biomarkers provide complementary approaches for evaluating animal health and identifying early responses to environmental stress. An integrated framework linking water-quality monitoring, microbial regulation, animal health assessment, and precision management is proposed. A case study framework is further presented to evaluate environmental conditions, animal physiological status, and production performance throughout the culture cycle. Future development of sustainable marine aquaculture will increasingly depend on real-time sensing, Internet of Things technologies, multi-omics analysis, and artificial intelligence for dynamic risk assessment and adaptive management. Integrating water environment optimization with animal health evaluation may provide a more comprehensive basis for improving environmental sustainability, production stability, and animal welfare in marine aquaculture systems.

Sustainable marine aquaculture; Water environment optimization; Animal health; Microbial community; Precision aquaculture