Aquaculture

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Aquaculture and Mariculture

Seaweed Farm
Seaweed Farm

[1] Aquaculture is the process of hatching or harvesting and rearing of marine life for human consumption; this is broken down into extensive and intensive aquaculture. Aquaculture is being used for many reasons including deterring over-fishing, increasing profit, and allow for genetic modification of marine life. [2]

  • Extensive aquaculture does not require the addition of feed [2]. Examples of this includes shellfish and seaweed which filter feed or perform photosynthesis.
  • Intensive aquaculture requires the addition of feed [2]. Examples of this includes herbivore, omnivore or carnivorous marine life such as salmon or shrimp.

Types of aquaculture

International aquaculture can be broken down into the following three categories:

  • One fourth of aquaculture is bivalves which includes clams, mussels and scallops. [3] This aquaculture is for food.
  • One fourth of aquaculture is seaweed and algae. [3] This aquacutlute is largely produced for chemicals to be used in health products and body products. [3] Some are raised for food.
  • Half of aquaculture is fish and other marine life. [3] Salmon is the largest market value produced within aquaculture and thus is a large segment of production. [3] Other aquaculture that fall in this category are shrimp, crustaceans and other fish including Caribbean fish.

Methods of Aquaculture[4]

There is a large variety of aquaculture due to the large variety of creatures and plants in aquaculture. Each method varies in their environmental harm as well. Two colloquial terms often used in aquaculture are ranching and farming. These two terms do not have definitions that are thoroughly defined but are often used in discussion with the distinction being that in fish ranching involves having the fish hatch and grow in one area and then releasing the fish and recapturing them when they return to spawn, this is common with salmon. Farming involves hatching, growth and harvesting in one area.

Beginning with filter feeders is the method of bag rack where bags are secured to racks to the bottom of the seabed with clams or other filter feeders, and grown until harvest. They are typically raised in shallow areas. This method generally has low environmental impact since the creatures are filter feeders and do not require inputs but if they are raised in still water then waste can become concentrated. Furthermore, introduction of invasive species can occur if a bag rips.

Potential Mitigation of Over-fishing

Over-fishing externalities can be grouped into three main categories. Though there can exist other specific impacts, the main three cover the most common and most drastic results of this practice.[5]

  • Overfishing causes the destruction of the ecosystem in and around the coral reef.
  • The collection of herbivorous fish and creatures -due to overfishing- can lead to excess algae. This excess algae creates a major imbalance in that ecosystem, potentially destroying the habitat of many other organisms.
  • The fishing techniques used in fishing can destroy coral. In the case of over-fishing, these harmful fishing techniques and their impacts are multiplied to a greater impact.
  • It is predicted that by 2030 50% of fish consumption could be from aquaculture [6]
    • Rate of replenishment needs to be sustainable for the ecosystem that the juveniles are collected from [7]
  • Urban aquaculture [8]
  • Has led to poverty reduction for those who perform aquaculture in Bangladesh [9]

Impacts on Coral

  • Coral reefs are used to provide an ecosystem for aquaculture farming. [10]
  • Aquaculture contribute to algae blooms, due to the resulting waste, which provides more nutrients for algae. [11]
  • Aquaculture on Costal Reefs and Related Problems
    • Cage Culture [2]
    • Restocking and Reseeding[2]
    • Artificial Habitat Development[2]
  • Live reef products are also a common aquaculture market; though this is much less in demand as the food-oriented aquaculture. [7]

Problems

Pollution

  • Increased pollution along coast from concentration of aquacultures [7]

GMO Salmon

  • AquaBoutny Technologies has created a GMO salmon that grows twice as fast as normal salmon and twice as large [12]
    • regulation issues
    • fear of its escape into the wild

Case Study

  • Asian Shrimp

Notes

  1. Broadbent, Adam. Seaweed Farming in Halmahera, Indonesia. Web. 19 Apr. 2016. Web.http://www.scubazoo.com/updates/blog/seaweed-farming-in-halmahera-indonesia/
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. "Aquaculture Within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park." Marine Pollution Bulletin 7.12 (2002): 10. Australian Government, 11 Apr. 2002. Web. 1 Apr. 2016. Web.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Lucas, John. "aquaculture." Current biology : CB 25.22 (2015): R1064-5. Web.
  4. "Fishing and Farming Methods" Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. Web. http://www.seafoodwatch.org/ocean-issues/fishing-and-farming-methods
  5. Daw, T.; Adger, W.N.; Brown, K.; Badjeck, M.-C. 2009. "Climate change and capture fisheries: potential impacts, adaptation and mitigation." Climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture: overview of current scientific knowledge. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper. No. 530. Rome, FAO. (2009): 107-150. Web.
  6. Muir, James. "Managing to Harvest? Perspectives on the Potential of Aquaculture." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 360.1453 (2005): 191-218. Web.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Pomeroy, Robert S., John E. Parks, and Cristina M. Balboa. "Farming the Reef: Is Aquaculture a Solution for Reducing Fishing Pressure on Coral Reefs?" Marine Policy 30.2 (2006): 111-30. Web.
  8. Urban fish farms a wave of the future?; A new york educator says big- city aquaculture can ease overfishing, add jobs and improve diets. (2006, Aug 14). Los Angeles Times
  9. e-Jahan, Khondker Murshed, Mahfuzuddin Ahmed, and Ben Belton. "The Impacts of Aquaculture Development on Food Security: Lessons from Bangladesh." Aquaculture Research 41.4 (2010): 481-95. Web.
  10. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Fisheries." NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program. US Department of Commerce, 13 July 2015. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. Web.
  11. "Impact of Fish Aquaculture Effluent on Reef-Associated Microbial Communities & Coral Health." Fish Effluent Impact on Reef Microbes & Coral Health. Coral Reef Target Research & Capacity Building for Management, 2013. Web. 02 Mar. 2016. Web.
  12. Rack, Jessie. "Genetically Modified Salmon: Coming To a River Near You?" NPR The Salt (2015): Web
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