This report and the activities of the SeaWeb Aquaculture Clearinghouse are made possible with the generous funding provided by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and The Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation.
Table of Contents (sections included here are bolded)
INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS SOCIAL CONFLICT MAKING IMPROVEMENTS SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVES: A PARADIGM SHIFT ECOLOGICAL AQUACULTURE ORGANIC AQUACULTURE POLYCULTURE AND INTEGRATED AQUACULTURE MOLLUSC FARMING CLOSED AND LOW DISCHARGE SYSTEMS Recirculating systems Inland pond culture FUTURE DIRECTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS APPENDIX I: AQUACULTURE SYSTEMS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS References
INTRODUCTION
There is now little doubt that the world’s fisheries are in crisis. Mounting scientific evidence points to dramatic declines in global catches.1,2 Increasingly, many are making the case that farming fish offers a solution to meeting the growing demand for seafood that catching fish cannot provide. Aquaculture now accounts for roughly one-third of the world’s total supply of food fish and undoubtedly the contribution of aquaculture to seafood supplies will increase in the future. Aquaculture has the potential to become a sustainable practice that can supplement capture fisheries and significantly contribute to feeding the world’s growing population. However, instead of helping to ease the crisis in wild fisheries, unsustainable aquaculture development could exacerbate the problems and create new ones, damaging our important and already-stressed coastal areas.
The vast majority of aquaculture takes place in Asia. In 2002, over 70% of worldwide aquaculture production was in China alone.3 Most farmed fish and shellfish are grown in traditional small-scale systems that benefit local communities and minimize the environmental impact. Utilizing simple culture technologies and minimal inputs, these systems have been used for centuries. The net contribution of these traditional aquaculture systems can be great as they offer many benefits, including food security in developing nations.
However, as happened with the “green revolution” of agriculture in the last century, the current “blue revolution” of aquaculture is becoming an industrial mode of food production. An emerging trend is toward the increased development of farming high-value carnivorous fish species using environmentally and socially damaging systems. Farming fish on an industrial scale, especially carnivorous fish is rapidly expanding; the number of different species farmed and geographic regions where they are farmed increases continually. Largely controlled by multinational corporations, industrialized farming of carnivorous fish such as salmon requires the intensive use of resources and exports problems to the surrounding environment, often resulting in environmental impacts and social conflicts.
Some segments of the aquaculture industry are long overdue for reform. What is required is a paradigm shift in how we think about aquaculture, particularly its interaction with natural and social systems. This new paradigm should be based on sustainable development—“the management and conservation of the natural resource base, and the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations. Such development conserves land, water, plant and genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technologically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable.”4 Sustainable aquaculture must consider the ecological, social, and economic aspects of development (Figure 1).
FUTURE DIRECTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
It is clear that there are ways to approach aquaculture that allow for the production of healthy seafood while avoiding the numerous pitfalls of some current aquaculture practices. It is also apparent that despite some progress, much needs to be done to reach a point where aquaculture can become a sustainable method of providing food for the world’s growing human populations. Unfortunately, some of the efforts to further develop aquaculture are currently being focused on practices that are most damaging, such as salmon netpen culture and shrimp culture in coastal ponds.
In order for aquaculture to develop into an environmentally and socially responsible food production endeavor, we recommend the following:
Implement more ecologically sustainable practices.
Transition to the use of more closed systems and low discharge systems, especially those that provide total containment of fish and recovery/reuse of wastes.
Significantly decrease or eliminate the dependence on wild fisheries.
Establish organic standards and other eco-labels for aquaculture products.
Develop sustainable aquaculture operations that provide long-term social and economic benefits to communities.
1 Pauly, D., V. Christensen, S. Guénette, T. Pitcher, U.R. Sumaila, C Walters, R. Watson, and D. Zeller. 2002. Towards sustainability in world fisheries. Nature 418: 689-695.
2 Meyers, R.A. and B. Worm. 2003. Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities. Nature 423: 280- 283.
3 Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations (FAO). 2002. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2002. Rome, Italy.
4 Susan Singh-Renton. 2002. Introduction to the Sustainable Development Concept in Fisheries FAO Fisheries Report No. 683, Supplement. Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations.
5 Beveridge, M.C. and D.C. Little. 2002. The History of Aquaculture in Traditional Societies. Pages 3-29 in B.A. Costa-Pierce, ed. Ecological Aquaculture: The Evolution of the Blue Revolution. Blackwell Science, Malden, Massachusetts.
6 Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations (FAO). 2000. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2000. Rome, Italy.
7 Ibid
8 Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations (FAO). 2002. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2002. Rome, Italy.
9 Thia-Eng, C. 1997. Sustainable Aquaculture and Integrated Coastal Management. Pages 177-200 in J.D. Bardach, ed. Sustainable Aquaculture. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
10 Ibid
11 FAO 2002.
12 Gowen, R.J. and N.B. Bradbury. 1987. The ecological impacts of salmonid farming in coastal waters: a review. Oceanography and Marine Biology Annual Review 25:563-575.
13 Folke, C., N. Kautsky, and M. Troell. 1994. The costs of eutrophication from salmon farming: implications for policy. Journal of Environmental Management 40:173-182.
14 Kautsky, N., H. Berg, C. Folke, J. Larsson, and M. Troell. 1997. Ecological footprint for assessment of resource use and development limitations in shrimp and tilapia aquaculture. Aquaculture Research 28:753-766.
15 Naylor, R.L., R.J. Goldburg, J.H. Primavera, N. Kautsky, M.C.M. Beveridge, J. Clay, C. Folke, J. Lubchenco, H. Mooney, and M. Troell. 2000. Effect of aquaculture on world fish supplies. Nature 405:1017-1024.
16 Milewski, I. 2001. Impacts of salmon aquaculture on the coastal environment: a review. Pages 166-197 in M.F. Tlusty, D. Bengston, H. Halvorson, S. Oktay, J. Pearce, and R.B. Rheault, eds. Marine Aquaculture and the Environment: A meeting for Stakeholders in the Northeast. Cape Cod Press, Falmouth, Massachusetts.
17 Weber, M. 2003. What Price Farmed Fish: The Environmental and Social Costs of Farming Carnivorous Fish. Report for the SeaWeb Aquaculture Clearinghouse. Available at: www.AquacultureClearinghouse.org
18 Barnhizer, D. 2001. Trade, Environment, and Human Rights: The Paradigm Case of Industrial Aquaculture and the Exploitation of Traditional Communities. In D. Barnhizer, ed. Effective Strategies for Protecting Human Rights: Economic Sanctions, Use of National Courts and International Fora, and Coercive Power. Ashgate, Burlington, Vermont.
19 Ibid.
20 Smash & Grab: Conflict, Corruption, and Human Rights Abuses in the Shrimp Farming Industry. 2003. Environmental Justice Foundation. London, United Kingdom.
21 Anonymous. 2001. Key figures from the Norwegian Aquaculture Industry, 2000. Directorate of Fisheries, Department of Aquaculture. Bergen, Norway. 15 pages.
22 Gilbertsen, N. 2003. The global salmon industry and its impacts in Alaska. Alaska Economic Trends 23(10): 3- 11.
23 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2002. Effluent Limitations Guidelines and New Source Performance Standards for the Concentrated Aquatic Animal Production Point Source Category (Docket Number W-02-01).
24 Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. 2000. Aquaculture best management practices. Available at: www.doacs.state.fl.us/aqua/BAD/BMP_rule.pdf
25 Global Aquaculture Alliance. Codes of Practice for Responsible Shrimp Farming. Available at: www.gaalliance.org/code.html
26 State of Idaho Division of Environmental Quality. Idaho Waste Management Guidelines for Aquaculture Operations. Available at: www.deq.state.id.us/water/gw/Aquaculture_Guidelines.pdf
27 FAO. 1995. Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. FAO, Rome.
28 Costa-Pierce, BA. 2002. Ecology as the Paradigm for the Future of Aquaculture. Pages 339-372 in B.A. Costa- Pierce, ed. Ecological Aquaculture: The Evolution of the Blue Revolution. Blackwell Science, Malden, Massachusetts.
29 Bardach, J.E. 1997. Fish as Food and the Case for Aquaculture. Pages 1-14 in J.D. Bardach, ed. Sustainable Aquaculture. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
30 Sorgeloos, P. 2001. Technologies for sustainable aquaculture development, Plenary Lecture II. In R.P. Subasinghe, P. Bueno, M.J. Phillips, C. Hough, S.E. McGladdery & J.R. Arthur, eds. Aquaculture in the Third Millennium. Technical Proceedings of the Conference on Aquaculture in the Third Millennium, Bangkok, Thailand, 20-25 February 2000. pp. 23-28. NACA, Bangkok and FAO, Rome.
31 GESAMP (IMO/FAO/UNESCO-IOC/WMO/WHO/IAEA/UN/UNEP Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection), 2001. Planning and management for sustainable coastal aquaculture development. Rep.Stud.GESAMP, (68): 90 p.
32 Primavera, J.H. 2002. Environmentally responsible grow-out systems in Aquaculture: an introduction to thematic session one. Aquachallenge Workshop. Beijing.
33 Costa-Pierce, BA. 2002. Ecology as the Paradigm for the Future of Aquaculture. Pages 339-372 in B.A. Costa- Pierce, ed. Ecological Aquaculture: The Evolution of the Blue Revolution. Blackwell Science, Malden, Massachusetts.
34 Ibid
35 Ibid
36 Brister, D.J. and A. Kapuscinski. Organic Aquaculture: A new wave of the future. The Institute for Social, Economic, and Ecological Sustainability. University of Minnesota.
37 Ibid
38 International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). 2000. Basic Standards for Organic Production and Processing. Available at: www.ifoam.org/standard/basics.html#11
39 Stickney, R.R. 2000. Polyculture. Pages 658-660 in R.R. Stickney, ed. Encyclopedia of Aquaculture. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
40 Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations (FAO). 2001. Integrated agriculture-aquaculture: a primer. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 407. Rome, Italy. 149pp.
41 Tian, X., Li, D, Dong, S, Yan, X, Qi, Z, Liu, G, Lu, J. 2001. An experimental study on closed-polyculture of penaeid shrimp with tilapia and constricted tagelus. Aquaculture 202:57-71.
42 Neori, A., M. Shpigel, and D. Ben-Ezra. 2000. A sustainable integrated system for culture of fish, seaweed and abalone. Aquaculture 186:279-291.
43 Tian et al. 2001. Aquaculture 202:57-71.
44 Ibid
45 Rice, MA. 2001. Environmental impacts of shellfish aquaculture: Filter feeding to control eutrophication. Pages 77-86 in M.F. Tlusty, D. Bengston, H. Halvorson, S. Oktay, J. Pearce, and R.B. Rheault, eds. Marine Aquaculture and the Environment: A meeting for Stakeholders in the Northeast. Cape Cod Press, Falmouth, Massachusetts.
46 Chen, S, Summerfelt, S, Losordo, T, Malone, R. 2002. Recirculating Systems, Effluents, and Treatments. Pages 119-140 in J. Tomasso, ed, Aquaculture and the Environment in the United States. The United States Aquaculture Society, a Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
47 Stickney, R.R. Recirculating water systems. Pages 722-731 in R.R. Stickney, ed. Encyclopedia of Aquaculture. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
48 Louisiana Sea Grant College Program. 1997. Urban Aquaculture for the 21st Century.
49 Stickney, RR. Encyclopedia of Aquaculture. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, 2000.
50 Tucker, C.S., C. Boyd, and J. Hargreaves. 2002. Characterization and management of effluents from warmwater aquaculture ponds. Pages 35-76 in J. Tomasso, ed. Aquaculture and the Environment in the United States. The United States Aquaculture Society, a Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
51 Ibid
source: http://www.seaweb.org/resources/sac/pdf/At_Crossroads.pdf 26jan04
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