Circular Aquaculture Innovation/Global/2021
Sustainable Intensification of Aquaculture through Nutrient Recycling and Circular Economies: More Fish, Less Waste, Blue Growth
Peer-Reviewed
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This 2021 review article in Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture, titled Sustainable Intensification of Aquaculture through Nutrient Recycling and Circular Economies: More Fish, Less Waste, Blue Growth, synthesises approaches that allow aquaculture to grow while reducing waste and environmental impacts. As aquaculture intensifies, nutrient loading from uneaten feed and fish excretion can cause eutrophication and degrade water quality. The review examines a range of nutrient-recycling and bioremediation pathways that can capture and reuse these nutrients. These include integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA), aquaponics combining fish and plant production, constructed wetlands that treat effluents, bioflocculation (biofloc) systems that convert waste into microbial biomass consumed by farmed animals, and periphyton-based systems that grow natural food on submerged substrates. The authors discuss the benefits, limitations and conditions for success of each approach and frame them within a circular economy and blue growth perspective. Although global in scope, the pathways are highly applicable to Southeast Asia, where many integrated systems have traditional roots. Classed as direct and contextual evidence under Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency, the article is a strong conceptual framework reference. It is useful for structuring literature reviews on circular aquaculture, for identifying technology options and for teaching sustainable intensification concepts.
Additional Details
- Author(s)
- Reviews in Fisheries Science & Aquaculture
- Type
- Review article
- Aquaculture / Fisheries Dimension
- IMTA; aquaponics; constructed wetlands; bioflocculation; periphyton
- Relevance to Climate Aquaculture
- Direct
- Thematic Area
- Circular Economy & Resource Efficiency
- Climate Issue
- Waste and nutrient loading from intensifying aquaculture
- Adaptation / Key Contribution
- Synthesises nutrient-recycling and bioremediation pathways underpinning circular blue growth
- How to Use / Notes
- Strong conceptual framework reference for the circular-aquaculture literature