Similarly as fishing, which has been recently intensified its activities, also aquaculture has expanded twenty-fold since 1980. Being responsible for releasing significant amounts of fish excreta, antibiotics, fungicides into surface waters, it further increases the vulnerability of oceans’ health. The availability of feed will be one of the most essential inputs if aquaculture has to maintain its sustained growth to meet the demands of aquatic foods. Total industrial compound aquafeed production has increased almost fourfold from 7.6 million tonnes in 1995 to 29.3 million tonnes in 2008, representing an average growth rate of 10.9 percent per year.
[Nutrition for All]: Aquaculture represents one of the main activities to provide ocean-based protein intake.
[Waste & Circular Systems]: The primary solution for managing the environmental impacts of aquaculture is the management of feed. Feed and feeding systems can effectively reduce wastes resulting from the fish feed through proper management of the inputs into the culture system. Reduction in feed conversion ratio by 30% in a fish farm will bring about a 20% reduction in environmental impact from the fish culture system.
[Climate & Earth Regeneration]: Sustainable management, conservation, and restoration of marine ecosystems is vital to support the oceans’ functions of carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services on which people depend. This includes food security, water efficiency, and coastal management.
[Humana Communitas]: The current trend towards globalization of the aquaculture industry, while creating new market opportunities for aquaculture, has also resulted in intensified production, increased pressure to improve production performance, and the widespread movement of aquatic animals.
Participants will be able to distinguish sustainable aqua-management practices, such as Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, starting from the cascade effects that large scale aquaculture practices may have on the marine environment. Good practices also include fish farms in land, as well as the latest technologies in aquaculture, and their combination with conservation and restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems.