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Selected Scholarly Aquaculture and Seafood Readings
It is already a well established fact: We have over-fished our oceans…
Aquaculture Offers Hope to Millions
As a result, if the planet’s oceans continue to be over-harvested, countless millions are going to suffer. What is the most reasonable solution to feed the multitudes and continue to sustain population growth? How do we come to the aid of an already struggling fishing industry?
Modern Aquaculture Technology.
Below are sited some scholarly works by well respected, published authorities on aquaculture trends, fish and seafood regulations in the US, international aquaculture, fish and shrimp raceway hatchery standards, sustainable seafood regulators, and much more.
The authors are cited with very specific details related to where their works are published and where to find them to investigate aquaculture more fully.
These scholarly works are not just for the technically savvy biologist or researcher. They are provided for anyone who wants to research the newest trends in aquaculture that are making a difference in the world today.
In other words, don’t just “take our word for it”. Read up on modern day aquaculture from experts who have pioneered the field along with us over the last two decades.
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Cohen, J., T.M. Samocha, J.M. Fox and A.L. Lawrence. 2005. Biosecured production of juvenile Pacific white shrimp in an intensive raceway system with limited water discharge. Aquacultural Engineering 32(3-4):425-442.
Davis, D.A. and C.R. Arnold.1998. The design, management and production of a recirculating raceway system for the production of marine shrimp. Aquacultural Engineering 17:193-211.
Gandy, R.L. 1997. U.S. national live bait shrimp market survey. Master’s thesis, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas.
Gandy, R., T.M. Samocha, E.R. Jones, and D.A. McKee. 2001.
The Texas live bait shrimp market. Journal of Shellfish Fisheries 20(1):365-367. de Garza, Yta, D.B. Rouse and D.A. Davis. 2004. Influence of nursery period on the growth and survival of Litopenaeus vannamei under pond production conditions. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 35:357-35.
Hanson T.R., R.K. Wallace, L.U. Hatch and W. Hosking. 1999. Coastal Alabama recreational live bait study, Report on the 1997 and 1998 Alabama live bait market surveys. Report prepared for the Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center, 4170 Commander’s Dr., Mobile, Alabama. AUMERC 00-1. 30pp.
Mays, R., J.A. Venero, D.A. Davis, D.B. Rouse and I.P. Saoud. (in press). Nursery protocols for the rearing of the brown shrimp, Farfantepenaeus aztecus: effects of stocking density, salinity and EDTA on growth and survival. Journal of Applied Aquaculture.
Sandifer, P.A., J. S. Hopkins, A.D. Stokes and C.L. Browdy. 1993. Preliminary comparisons of the native Penaeus setiferus and Pacific Penaeus vannamei white shrimp for pond culture in South Carolina.
Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 24:295-303.
Samocha, T.M., B.J. Burkott, A.L. Lawrence, Y.S. Juan, E.R. Jones and D.A. McKee. 1998. Management strategies for production of the Atlantic white shrimp Penaeus setiferus as bait shrimp in outdoor ponds. Journal of World Aquaculture Society 29:211-220.
Samocha, T.M. and R. Gandy. 2000. Protocol for nursery raceway. Acuacultura del Ecuador 39:72-77.
Zajicek, P., D. Zimett, C. Adama and A. Lazur. 1997. Live bait shrimp market analysis and farm enterprise budget. Bureau of Seafood and Aquaculture. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Poorly run fish farms can generate coastal pollution in the form of excess feed and manure, and escaped fish and disease originating on farms can devastate wild fisheries. For example, a fish farm with 200,000 salmon releases nutrients and fecal matter roughly equivalent to the raw sewage generated by 20,000 to 60,000 people. Scotland’s salmon aquaculture industry is estimated to produce the same amount of nitrogen waste as the untreated sewage of 3.2 million people—just over half the country’s population.
Cramped facilities can also create ill health for fish, costing producers millions of dollars in disease prevention and foregone revenues. In recent years, shrimp farmers in China have lost $120 million to bacterial fish diseases and $420 million to shrimp diseases.
Fish farming has expanded to meet the soaring global demand for seafood. On average, each person on the planet is eating four times as much seafood as was consumed in 1950. The average per-capita consumption of farmed seafood has increased nearly 1,000 percent since 1970, in contrast to per-capita meat consumption, which grew just 60 percent.
In 2006, fish farmers raised nearly 70 million tons of seafood worth more than $80 billion—nearly double the volume of a decade earlier. Experts predict that farmed seafood will grow an additional 70 percent by 2030.
How can fish farming be made more sustainable? Innovative industry practices are key, but a shift toward sustainable fish farming will also require a fundamental change in public attitudes. This includes a willingness to prioritize fish that are lower on the food chain, such as shellfish and tilapia. But can consumers today be mobilized to shift the aquaculture industry in the same way they pressured tuna fleets to adopt more dolphin-friendly practices in the 1980s?
The need for more sustainable fish farming is critical, according to the report. Farmed seafood provides 42 percent of the world’s seafood supply, and is on target to exceed half in the next decade, yet there are no widely accepted standards for what constitutes “good” fish farming. By comparison, the organic food industry has strong international and national standards, even though it constitutes just 3 to 5 percent of the world’s food supply
Written by The Naib
Nearly half of the seafood we eat today is farmed. And while aquaculture is often equated with pollution, habitat degradation, and health risks, this explosive growth in fish farming may in fact be the most hopeful trend in the world’s increasingly troubled food system, according to a new report by Worldwatch Institute.
In Farming Fish for the Future, Senior Researcher Brian Halweil illustrates how, if properly guided, fish farming can not only help feed an expanding global population, but also play a role in healing marine ecosystems battered by overfishing.
“In a world where fresh water and grain supplies are increasingly scarce, raising seafood like oysters, clams, catfish, and tilapia is many times more efficient than factory-farmed chicken or beef,” says Halweil. “Farmed fish can be a critical way to add to the global diet to hedge against potential crop losses or shortages in the supply of meat.”
“But not all fish farming is created equal,” Halweil notes. Carnivorous species like salmon and shrimp, while increasingly popular, consume several times their weight in fish feed—derived from other, typically smaller, fish—as they provide in edible seafood. “It generally requires 20 kilograms of feed to produce just 1 kilogram of tuna,” Halweil says. “So even as we depend more on farmed fish, a growing scarcity of fish feed may jeopardize future expansion of the industry.”
“The early Hawaiians took advantage of natural fish ponds near the ocean. The seawater seeps through cracks in the lava (too small for fish to escape) and combines with spring water to create a brackish pool of filtered water.” – Image Description.
Aquaculture as we know it today has Ancient roots. It is well documented that Aquaculture had its beginnings in China somewhere around 2,500 BC.
Carp were held up in artificial ponds for use as a source of protein and their “brood” were used to feed their exotic, and much coveted, silkworms. Through breeding and genetic mutation, those Carp became what we know today as the common Goldfish.
The Romans kept fish ponds for both food and enjoyment. The Ancient Hawaiians pioneered Aquaculture; raising both fish for food and plants for consumption, and aesthetic beauty. Their aquaculture centered on lore and mythical gods and deities. Thus aquaculture had a very significant role in their everyday life aside from being “just for food.”
Modern Aquaculture, as we know it, is a new animal. It is relatively “new” because the need for a reliable source of healthy, sustainable food has steadily increased as our Earth’s population has exploded. The ocean can only yield so much (much to the lament of modern-day Fishermen and Shrimpers).
Following the tradition of the Ancients, the wise thing to do was to create a better way to feed the Earth’s population. “Underwater Agriculture,” “The Blue Revolution,” “Fish and Shrimp Farming,” – call it what you like, the reality is the same.
The Ancient Art of Aquaculture has evolved today into a way to feed a multitude…for a fraction of the cost, with less waste, more quality control and, when implemented correctly, a “clean-green” source of protein for the benefit of all.
We cannot “Save the entire World,” yet. However, what we can do, is start by making sure that in our Communities, people are being educated about Modern Aquaculture Technology. We can start by pioneering fresh, new ways to produce disease-free seafood. We can start a new way of looking at how we eat, what we eat…and “how” it gets “here.”
That’s what Modern Aquaculture is all about and that’s the very core of what Island Bounty, SA stands for.
Take a fascinating glimpse into Inland Shrimp Farming in the United States today. Simple pond structure, coupled with high tech ratio and proportions, keep the shrimp stock viable from incubation through harvesting.
Enjoy the Instructional Video on the Shrimp Farming Industry discussing: Pond Construction, Pond Preparation, Excellent Water Quality, Proper Transportation and Acclimation, Pond Stocking, Shrimp Nutrition and Feeding, Water Quality Management, Pond Aeration, Shrimp Production, Harvesting and Marketing and Cooking the Shrimp.
Modern Aeration Techniques in Shrimp Farming
The issue of feed ingredients is among the top challenges facing the global aquaculture industry. The protein-rich feed pellets used in aquaculture are made in part from small, bony fish species including herring, menhaden, anchovy, and sardines.
These species, harvested worldwide for use in fish meal and fish oil, are under increasing commercial fishing pressure. Fish meal and fish oil are principal feeds ingredients for cultured fish species including carp, shrimp, salmon, tilapia, trout, and catfish, as well as poultry and pigs.
Aquaculture Pellets - Feedstuff
As ingredients in aquaculture feedstuffs, fish meal and fish oil supply the essential amino acids and fatty acids required for normal growth.
In the U.S. and elsewhere, studies are underway to better understand the nutritional requirements of fish and shrimp and to evaluate the use of alternative dietary ingredients in aquaculture feed, including soybeans, barley, rice, peas, and other crops along with canola, lupine, wheat gluten, corn gluten, various plant proteins, algae, and seafood processing by-products.
Groundbreaking research on alternative dietary ingredients (feedstuffs) for aquaculture, including plant based proteins, is expanding in the United States and worldwide.
Alternative Aquaculture Feeds Development
Hungry children eating fish.
Aquaculture is the “farming” of plants and animals that live in water, especially fish, shrimp and seafood. It is defined as the science, art, and business of cultivating marine or freshwater food.
Aquaculture is the newest and fastest growing food production service in the world! It is vital to the overall sustenance of our Earth’s inhabitants. “Never before has the ocean’s natural fish and shellfish population been in such severe decline.”
Aquaculture – Underwater Agriculture:
“The Blue Revolution”
“The Blue Revolution”
According to a recent CBS Business Report, it is estimated that over 75% of food fish species are collapsed or on the verge of collapse.
What does the the “Blue Revolution” mean for the World’s population?
Everything! Without continuing Aquaculture Technology efforts to supplement our food supplies, several hundred million people will go without a reliable source of protein in their diet.IMAGE: “Eating fish. Kids portrait, Lagos, Nigeria Africa – Originally Uploaded
by E. B. Sylvester
by E. B. Sylvester
