The harvesting of marine life for consumption has been going on for thousands of years. With populations growing, it is becoming ever more prevalent for supplying the world with high protein food. With aquaculture demands growing and eco systems in jeopardy, now more than any other time in history has it become more important to require sustainability within this industry. At Tesoro del Mar, our team of aquaculture scientists believe they have come up with the world’s best sustainable aquaculture farm.
The below information was provided by Wikipedia. There is a tremendous amount of information regarding aquaculture on the internet and we do not imply this is all there is to know about the aquaculture industry.
Aquaculture is the farming of freshwater and saltwater organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Unlike fishing, aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, implies the cultivation of aquatic populations under controlled conditions.[1] Mariculture refers to aquaculture practiced in marine environments. Particular kinds of aquaculture include algaculture (the production of kelp/seaweed and other algae), fish farming, shrimp farming, oyster farming, and the growing of cultured pearls. Particular methods includeaquaponics, which integrates fish farming and plant farming.
Aquaculture began in China circa 2500 BC[citation needed]. When the waters subsided after river floods, some fish, mainly carp, were trapped in lakes. Nascent aquaculturists fed their brood using nymphs and silkwormfeces, and ate the fish for their protein. A fortunate genetic mutation of carp led to the emergence of goldfishduring the Tang Dynasty.
Hawaiians practiced aquaculture by constructing fish ponds (see Hawaiian aquaculture). A remarkable example is a fish pond dating from at least 1,000 years ago, at Alekoko. Legend says that it was constructed by the mythical Menehune. The Japanese cultivated seaweed by providing bamboo poles and, later, nets and oystershells to serve as anchoring surfaces for spores. The Romans bred fish in ponds.
In central Europe, early Christian monasteries adopted Roman aquacultural practices.[2] Aquaculture spread inEurope during the Middle Ages, since away from the seacoasts and the big rivers, fish were scarce/expensive. Improvements in transportation during the 19th century made fish easily available and inexpensive, even in inland areas, making aquaculture less popular.
In 1859 Stephen Ainsworth of West Bloomfield, New York, began experiments with brook trout. By 1864 Seth Green had established a commercial fish hatching operation at Caledonia Springs, near Rochester, NY. By 1866, with the involvement of Dr. W. W. Fletcher of Concord Mass, artificial fish hatching operations were under way in both Canada and the United States.[3] When the Dildo Island fish hatchery opened in Newfoundland Canada in 1889, it was the largest and most advanced in the world.
California residents harvested wild kelp and attempted to manage supply starting circa 1900, later labeling it a wartime resource.[4]
Tilapia, a commonly farmed fish due to its adaptability
About 430 (97%) of the aquatic species cultured as of 2007 were domesticated during the 20th century, of which an estimated 106 aquatic species came in the decade to 2007. Given the long-term importance of agriculture, it is interesting to note that to date only 0.08% of known land plant species and 0.0002% of known land animal species have been domesticated, compared with 0.17% of known marine plant species and 0.13% of known marine animal species. Domesticating an aquatic species typically involves about a decade of scientific research. [5] Aquatic species involve fewer risks than that of land animals, which took a large toll in human lives through diseases such as smallpox and bird and swine flu, that like most infectious diseases, are transferred to humans from animals. No human pathogens of comparable virulence have yet emerged from marine species.
The stagnation in the world's fisheries and overexploitation of the most popular marine fish species, combined with the world's rapidly growing demand for this high quality protein provide additional impetus to domesticate marine species.
World production
In 2004, the total world production of fisheries was 140.5 million tonnes of which aquaculture contributed 45.5 million tonnes or about 32% of the total world production.[6] The growth rate of worldwide aquaculture has been sustained and rapid, averaging about 8 percent per annum for over thirty years, while the take from wild fisheries has been essentially flat for the last decade.
Average annual percentage growth for different species groups[6] |
Time period |
Crustaceans |
Molluscs |
Freshwater
fish |
Diadromous
fish |
Marine
fish |
Overall |
1970–2004 |
18.9 |
7.7 |
9.3 |
7.3 |
10.5 |
8.8 |
1970–1980 |
23.9 |
5.6 |
6.0 |
6.5 |
14.1 |
6.2 |
1980–1990 |
24.1 |
7.0 |
13.1 |
9.4 |
5.3 |
10.8 |
1990–2000 |
9.1 |
11.6 |
10.5 |
6.5 |
12.5 |
10.5 |
2000–2004 |
19.2 |
5.3 |
5.2 |
5.8 |
9.6 |
6.3 |
Production by country
Aquaculture is an especially important economic activity in China. Between 1980 and 1997, the Chinese Bureau of Fisheries reports, aquaculture harvests grew at an annual rate of 16.7 percent, jumping from 1.9 million to nearly 23 million tons. In 2005 China accounted for 70% of the world's aquaculture production.[7][8]
Environmental impact
As aquaculture has grown, so have concerns about its environmental impact. In fact, aquaculture can be more environmentally damaging than exploiting wild fisheries.[10] These concerns include waste handling, side-effects of antibiotics, competition between farmed and wild varieties, and providing feed for consumer-desired carnivorous fish. However considerable research and commercial feed improvements during the 1990s & 2000s has lessened many of these environmental impacts[11]
Fish waste is organic and composed of nutrients necessary in all components of aquatic food webs. The concentrated nature of aquaculture often leads to higher than normal levels of fish waste in the water. Waste from nearshore, high-intensity operations can adversely affect the environment by decreasing dissolved oxygen levels in the water column.
Species such as salmon are grown in net-contained environments. Unused feed and waste products can contaminate the surrounding sea floor and fish can escape, where they can outcompete wild fish. Escapees can also dilute wild genetic stocks through interbreeding. [12]
Onshore recirculating aquaculture systems, facilities using polyculture techniques, and properly-sited facilities (e.g. offshore or areas with strong currents) are examples of ways to manage the negative environmental effects of fish waste.
Farming carnivorous fish like salmon actually increases the pressure on wild fish, as producing one kilo of farmed salmon requires up to six kilo of wild fish, assuming that all protein in these fish diets are derived from fish.[13]More recent research shows that adequate diets for salmon and other carnivorous fish can be formulated from protein sources other than fish meal, thus reducing pressure on fishery resources.[14]
Other forms of aquaculture such as the culture of seaweeds and filter feeding bivalve mollusks such as oysters,clams, mussels and scallops are relatively benign environmentally. Seaweeds act to extract nutrients such as inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus directly from the water,[15] and filter feeding molluscan shellfish can extract organic nutrients as they feed on particulates phytoplankton and detritus.[16]
Despite the environmental concerns, profitable aquaculture can funnel money into promoting sustainable practices.[17] New methods minimize the risk of biological and chemical pollution through minimizing stress to fish, fallowing netpens, and applying Integrated Pest Management. Vaccines are being used more and more to reduce antibiotic use for disease control in aquaculture.[18]
Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture
Main article: Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaculture
Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) is a practice in which the by-products (wastes) from one species are recycled to become inputs (fertilizers, food) for another. Fed aquaculture (e.g. fish, shrimp) is combined with inorganic extractive (e.g. seaweed) and organic extractive (e.g. shellfish) aquaculture to create balanced systems for environmental sustainability (biomitigation), economic stability (product diversification and risk reduction) and social acceptability (better management practices).[15]
"Multi-Trophic" refers to the incorporation of species from different trophic or nutritional levels in the same system.[21] This is one potential distinction from the age-old practice of aquatic polyculture, which could simply be the co-culture of different fish species from the same trophic level. In this case, these organisms may all share the same biological and chemical processes, with few synergistic benefits, which could potentially lead to significant shifts in the ecosystem. Some traditional polyculture systems may, in fact, incorporate a greater diversity of species, occupying several niches, as extensive cultures (low intensity, low management) within the same pond. The "Integrated" in IMTA refers to the more intensive cultivation of the different species in proximity of each other, connected by nutrient and energy transfer through water.
Ideally, the biological and chemical processes in an IMTA system should balance. This is achieved through the appropriate selection and proportions of different species providing different ecosystem functions. The co-cultured species are typically more than just biofilters; they are harvestable crops of commercial value.[21] A working IMTA system can result in greater total production based on mutual benefits to the co-cultured species and improved ecosystem health, even if the production of individual species is lower than in a monoculture over a short term period.[22]
Sometimes the term "Integrated Aquaculture" is used to describe the integration of monocultures through water transfer.[22] For all intents and purposes however, the terms "IMTA" and "integrated aquaculture" differ only in their degree of descriptiveness.Aquaponics, fractionated aquaculture, IAAS (integrated agriculture-aquaculture systems), IPUAS (integrated peri-urban-aquaculture systems), and IFAS (integrated fisheries-aquaculture systems) are other variations of the IMTA concept.
Shrimp farming
Main article: Shrimp farm
A shrimp farm is an aquaculture business for the cultivation of marine shrimp for human consumption. Commercial shrimp farming began in the 1970s, and production grew steeply thereafter. Global production reached more than 1.6 million tonnes in 2003, representing a value of nearly 9,000 million U.S. dollars. About 75% of farmed shrimp is produced in Asia, in particular in China and Thailand. The other 25% is produced mainly in Latin America, where Brazil is the largest producer. Thailand is the largest exporter.
Shrimp farming has changed from its traditional, small-scale form in Southeast Asia into a global industry. Technological advances have led to ever higher densities per unit area, and broodstock is shipped worldwide. Virtually all farmed shrimp are penaeids (i.e., shrimp of the family Penaeidae), and just two species of shrimp—the Penaeus vannamei (Pacific white shrimp) and the Penaeus monodon (giant tiger prawn) account for roughly 80% of all farmed shrimp. These industrial monocultures are very susceptible to disease, which has decimated shrimp populations across entire regions. Increasing ecological problems, repeated disease outbreaks, and pressure and criticism from both NGOs and consumer countries led to changes in the industry in the late 1990s and generally stronger regulation by governments. In 1999, governments, industry representatives, and environmental organizations initiated a program aimed at developing and promoting moresustainable farming practices.
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SoCal Aquaponics is a facility that is established to grow the best quality organically grown Tilapia, Shrimp and Vegetables. |
