Abstract
The demand for seafood products on the global market is rising, particularly in Asia, as affluence and appreciation of the health benefits of seafood increase. This is coupled with a capture fishery that, at best, is set for stagnation and, at worst, significant collapse. Global aquaculture is the fastest growing sector of the food industry and currently accounts for approximately 45.6% of the world’s fish consumption. However, the rapid development of extensive and semi-extensive systems, particularly intensive marine-fed aquaculture, has resulted in worldwide concern about the potential environmental, economic, and social impacts of such systems. In recent years, there has been a significant amount of research conducted on the development of sustainable saltwater-based food production systems through mechanical (e.g., recirculatory aquaculture (RAS) systems) methods and ecosystem-based approaches (e.g., integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA)). This review article will examine the potential negative impacts of monocultural saltwater aquaculture operations and review established (RAS) and novel (IMTA; constructed wetlands; saltwater aquaponics) saltwater-based food production systems and discuss their (potential) contribution to the development of sustainable and environmentally-friendly systems.
Highlights
The human population is rising at a dramatic rate, doubling from 3 billion in the early 1960s to 6.5 billion in 2008, and currently standing at approximately 7.34 billion
This study found that an average yield of 10,000 m2 of S. persica would be expected to produce about 28.8 tons (2.88 kg·m−2 ·year−1 )
In 2014, for the first time in history, aquaculture’s contribution to the global supply of fish for human consumption exceeded that from capture fisheries. This was as a result of wild fisheries reaching or exceeding their sustainable limit, a lack of fishery policy that promotes efficiency, and an aquaculture industry that is becoming increasingly innovative and making enormous strides in technology and management [3,6,8,9]
Summary
The human population is rising at a dramatic rate, doubling from 3 billion in the early 1960s to 6.5 billion in 2008, and currently standing at approximately 7.34 billion. Water 2016, 8, 598 production sector [3,4,6,7] This rapid expansion of the aquaculture industry resulted from: wild fisheries reaching or exceeding their sustainable limit; a high level of global investment; a lack of fishery policies that promote efficiency; improvements in aquaculture technology and management; and innovative techniques/technologies (e.g., RAS) [6,8,9]. Number necessary exceeded that from capture fisheries (c.70 million Mt) This is in stark contrast to 1950, when only 1 million Mt of finfish, crustaceans, and molluscs were cultivated from aquaculture [2,3]. As the human population continues to expand and the capture fisheries industry stagnates, the reliance on farmed fish as a fundamental source of protein will increase. This paper will examine the potential negative impacts of monocultural saltwater aquaculture operations and review established (i.e., recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS)) and novel (i.e., Integrated Multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA); constructed wetlands; saltwater aquaponics) saltwater-based food production systems and discuss their contribution (or potential contribution) to the development of sustainable and environmentally-friendly systems
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