Abstract
Finding a good location is of important aspects in mariculture. This can be done by evaluating the water quality data. The aims of the study were to evaluate the seawater quality at Moro, Karimun, Riau Islands and to analyze its compatibility for mariculture by using principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple linear regressions. Generally, seawater qualities in the study area were in the tolerance range for mariculture. Surface water samples were collected from five different sampling points around Moro Sea. PCA results demonstrated that there were eleven variation factors which explained 95.4% of the total variance. In addition, based on PCA and multiple linear regressions, four water quality predictors for environmental quality could be identified, that is nitrite (NO2), temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen. Multiple linear regressions showed that the contribution of each parameter to the water quality was significant (R2=1, P < 0.05).