Apparent nutrient consumption and oxygen production, representing net community production, appear among other methods to offer a valuable approach to new production. Net community production determinations were carried out a long time ago in the Mediterranean Sea, with the idea of comparing them with super(14)C-productivity measurements. Our main objective here is to summarize the results of these studies and to review them in relation to the latest discussions concerning productivity of the Sargasso Sea. In the main oligotrophic coastal waters of the Ligurian Sea, there is no evidence for positive net production in the subsurface oxygen maximum associated with the summer thermocline (Minas, Coste, 1964), and Reid's (1962) physical explanation of the remnant winter oxygenation holds for these areas.