## 1 Introduction  
Building upon the Goals for the Millennium, the United Nations (UN) elaborated further and proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and targets for the year 2030, with 17 areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet having been identified [1]. From these, SDG 14--\"life below water\" aiming to \"conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development\"; and SDG 2--\"zero hunger\" aiming to \"end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture\" [2] are aligned with the UN/FAO's blue growth initiative, targeting responsible and sustainable fisheries and aquaculture [3]. These SDG are also in line with EU blue growth strategy targeting sectors that have a high potential for sustainable jobs and growth [4]. Under this strategy, aquaculture is seen as an opportunity to ensure a better use of marine resources and improve nutrition, therefore holding the potential to support SDG14 and SDG2 aims and targets. In this context, an increase in science based-knowledge might enhance the link between the development of environmental and economic sustainable aquaculture, namely by reducing the dependency from wild specimens, ensure the nutritional value of cultured specimens and enhancing their overall added value. Aquaponics, a variation of the integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) concept, combines two technologies: recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) (e.g., fish-farm) and hydroponics plant production (soilless cultivation of crops) [5]. In a similar way as for agriculture (part of SDG 2), where aquaponics appears to be a solution to achieve a sustainable agricultural production system [6], aquaponics holds the potential to play a significant role in aquaculture production [7; 8]. In an aquaculture environment, namely in marine aquaculture, these systems use nutrient-rich effluents from fish production to culture a range of extractive species, such as salt tolerant plants, i.e., halophytes. These extractive species can occupy different trophic levels enabling reuse of the entire pool of available organic matter that result from fish production. Relevant examples are deposit feeders like polychaetas that can feed on particulate organic matter (POM), filter-feeders like bivalves that can feed on dissolved organic matter (DOM), and primary producers that feed on dissolved inorganic nutrients. In aquaponics, the excess of organic matter and especially the excess of dissolved inorganic nutrients in the fish farm effluent becomes a source of energy for primary producers, stimulating the recycling of nitrogen and phosphorus, and net growth [7]. Halophytes have been gradually introduced in marine aquaculture systems to enhance the implementation of more sustainable practices, due to their extractive capacity and suitability for bioremediation of nutrient-rich marine effluents, as well as their attractive use for human consumption [9; 10]. Relevant examples regarding the use of halophytes as a primary driver for the mitigation of nutrient-rich effluents from super-intensive marine fish farm are the works using _Suada esteroa_ [PERSON]. [PERSON], _Salicornia biegolovii_ [PERSON], and _Atriplex barclayana_ [PERSON]. [11]; _Salicornia europaea_ [PERSON]. [12]; _Salicornia persica_ [PERSON] [13], and _Hallinione portulacoides_ ([PERSON]) [PERSON] [14]. In addition, a growing number of studies have highlighted the advantages of the use of halophyte plants as food for human consumption, namely _Salicornia_ spp. [12; 15], _Sarocornia pernentis_ (Mill. [PERSON], _Salicornia ranovissima_ [PERSON], and _Arthrocentum macstachyum_ [PERSON]. [16]. Wild specimens of the above-mentioned halophyte species are recognized to be rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids (FA) [17], specifically \(\alpha\)-linolenic and linoleic acid (ALA, 18:3\(n\)-3 and LA, 18:2\(n\)-6, respectively) [18].