Environmental Management of Fish Cage Aquaculture
![](/public/icon/gor.png)
![](/public/icon/pdf.png)
Keywords:
Aquaculture certification, Aquaculture impacts, Better management practices, Environmental management, Fish cage culture, Integrated multi-trophic aquacultureAbstract
Most modern fish culture involves the intensive input of nutrients in the form of feed, yet only a small proportion of these nutrients is converted into the target product; they can be largely lost to bacterial degradation. However, when compared with other livestock production systems, aquaculture has better feed conversion efficiency and feed conversion ratios (FCRs) are continuing to improve. High levels of nutrients from fish cages may cause eutrophication and thus may affect fisheries adversely, but on the contrary, the additional nutrients from the feed may have a beneficial effect, boosting natural productivity including fisheries. The important components of fish farming waste comprise nutrients (dissolved and particulate) resulting from the metabolism of fish food, uneaten food, escapees of farmed fish affecting the genetic diversity of wild fish populations and chemical residues of disease or parasitic therapeutant treatments. Potential management measures to mitigate environmental impacts include public and private sector approaches. The public sector approaches include appropriate and specific aquaculture policies, strategies, regulations, legislation, and management plans, adoption and implementation of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) and Ecosystem Approach to Aquaculture (EAA) strategies for planning, management, monitoring, and control. Zoning for aquaculture space is to be based on the allocation of aquafarms on suitable areas, appropriate evaluation of carrying capacity of the ecosystem, planning and management for disease prevention and treatment and environmental control. Appropriate control of farm permits, licences, and registration by the state is necessary to monitor and control aquaculture development. The private sector approaches include improved feed formulation and feeding strategies to reduce the feed conversion ratio and nutrient losses, the use of Integrated Multi-trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) to utilise nutrient outputs from intensive aquaculture and thus regular environmental monitoring is the key to ensure that impacts remain within acceptable limits.
Downloads
References
Aguilar-Manjarrez, J., Soto, D. & Brummett, R. 2017. Aquaculture zoning, site selection and area management under the ecosystem approach to aquaculture. Full document. Report ACS113536. Rome, FAO, and World Bank Group, Washington, DC. 395 pp (also available at http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6834e.pdf)
Ministry for Primary Industries. 2013. Literature Review of Ecological Effects of Aquaculture. A collaboration between Ministry for Primary Industries, Cawthron Institute & National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd. Ministry for Primary Industries, Wellington, New Zealand. 260 pp. ISBN number 978-0-478-38817-6.
FAO. 1997. Technical Guidelines for Responsible Fisheries. No. 5. Rome, FAO. 40 pp.
FAO. 2009. Environmental impact assessment and monitoring in aquaculture. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper. No. 527. Rome, FAO. 2009. 57 pp. Includes a CD ROM containing the full document (648 pages).
FAO. 2010. Aquaculture development. 4. Ecosystem approach to aquaculture. FAO Technical Guidelines for Responsible Fisheries. No. 5, Suppl. 4. Rome. (Also available at: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i1750e.pdf)
FAO. 2015. Aquaculture zoning, site selection and area management under the ecosystem approach to aquaculture - Policy Brief. Rome. 4 p. http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5004e.pdf
Forrest B, Keeley N, Gillespie P, Hopkins G, Knight B, Govier D. 2007. Review of the ecological effects of marine finfish aquaculture: final report. Prepared for Ministry of Fisheries. Cawthron Report No. 1285. 71 pp. https://www.cawthron.org.nz/media_new/publications/pdf/2014_07/CR1285 Review_of_the_ecological_effects_of_marine_finfish_aquaculture_Final_report.pdf
Gowen, R.J. 2007. Managing eutrophication associated with aquaculture development. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 10(4):242 - 257 DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0426.1994.tb00164.x
Ross, L.G., Telfer, T.C., Falconer, L., Soto, D. & Aguilar-Manjarrez, J., eds. 2013. Site selection and carrying capacities for inland and coastal aquaculture. FAO/Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, Expert Workshop, 6–8 December 2010. Stirling, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Proceedings No. 21. Rome, FAO. 46 pp. Includes a CD–ROM containing the full document (282 pp.). (also available at www.fao.org/docrep/017/i3099e/i3099e00.htm).
White, P. 2017. Aquaculture Pollution : An Overview of Issues with a Focus on China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. (also available at https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/29249 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.)
Downloads
Submitted
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Indian Society of Coastal Agricultural Research (ISCAR)
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The copyright of the articles published in the Journal of the Indian Society of Coastal Agricultural Research lies with the Indian Society of Coastal Agricultural Research (ISCAR), who has the right to enter into any agreement with any organization in India or abroad engaged in reprography, photocopying, storage and dissemination of information contained in the journal. However, ISCAR supports open access and there is no restriction in the use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that it is not being used for commercial purposes and due credit is given to ISCAR.