Aquaculture’s Environmental Challenges

The main concerns articulated by the environmental community are as follows:

• sustainability of resources used in aquaculture
• impact of aquaculture on marine biodiversity
• sustainability of fish feed practices (fish meal and oil)
• alien species introduction via aquaculture
• escapees and effects on wild populations
• release of organic matter (feed and waste products)
• over fishing of wild species for aquaculture (tuna)
• marine spatial planning and competition with alternative coastal activities
• eco-labelling of aquaculture products
• animal welfare (therapeutics, nutrition, intensive farming practices, transport)

According to environmental agencies, innovation emphasis should be given to:

• domestication
• behaviour and survival of escapees
• impacts of introduced species
• life cycle of aquaculture species
• biology and trends of species used for fish meal
• alternative sources of food ingredients
• recirculating aquaculture systems
• waste disposal or recycling
• disease and disease monitoring in wild populations

Do we have the complete list of environmental concerns listed here? Are there others that you can identify?

The presentation on aquaculture’s enviromental challenges by Despina Symons of the European Bureau for Conservation and Development is available here.

Tags: Environment
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