THE FUTURE OF AQUACULTURE

Aquaculture is the fastest growing food-producing sector in the world, contributing one-third of global food fish production. Driven mainly by massive population growth, urbanization and increasing in wealth. Aquaculture has grown good for food sector and marketing. Today about million tonnes of fish, mussels, crab and other aquatic organisms are farmed around the world each year. Aquaculture will continue to grow strongly and thus make a significant contribution to providing the global population with valuable protein. The future of clean, green fish farming could be indoor factories such as :

Live tilapia raised by Blue Ridge Aquaculture are loaded into a truck bound for New York.

The shrimp and tilapia typically come from warm-water ponds in southeast Asia and Latin America. Farmed salmon come from big net pens in the coastal waters of Norway or Chile.

"The idea is to have the entire life cycle in completely clean and controlled conditions that are disease-free, so you don't introduce anything from the outside," Zohar says. As a result, these fish never need antibiotics, hormones or other chemicals to keep them healthy. And because they are kept in optimal conditions, they grow twice as quickly as fish in traditional net pens in the Mediterranean.

                           Collecting fresh eggs from the mouths of female tilapia fish

The Future of aquaculture in fish farming is by using giant autonomous roaming robotic cages

                   A photo-illustration composite image of an Aquapod fish-farming cage.

Aquaculture produces around half of the fish eaten worldwide, and since wild stocks are waning and global demand for fish is increasing, fish farming is destined to play a big role. National Geographic reports on a possible future of aquaculture, which includes free-floating, autonomous fish farms that move through the open ocean that mimic the movements of wild schools.

The robotic fish farms could help lead to larger, healthier crops of farmed fish far from crowded coastal areas, where farmed fish both suffer from poor water quality and, by producing waste, add to water woes.
Cages might even generate their own electricity by harnessing solar energy, wave energy, or other forms of renewable power.

Research needs identified by members of the aquaculture industry touch every aspect of aquaculture, including:

     i)        Genetics and reproduction

Qualitative Genetic Traits

A classic example of epistasis for a qualitative trait in aquaculture is the scale patterns in the common carp (Fig. 5). Common carp scaling includes wild-scaled, mirror, linear or leather types. Wild-scaled carp have scales all about the fish; mirror carp have scales scattered around the fish; linear carp have scales arranged in a linear array; leather carp have very few scales. These patterns are controlled by genes (S and N) from two loci. One loci (S) determines the degree of scales, either wild-scaled (SS or Ss) or mirror-scaled (ss). The other loci (N) modify these phenotypes in the following manner:
a. (SS nn or Ss nn); wild-scaled carp
b. (SS Nn or Ss Nn); linear carp
c. (ss nn); mirror carp
d. (ss Nn); leather carp

There is another combination of alleles possible for scale patterns: the homozygous dominant (NN) form of the locus (N). This inheritance is lethal to embryos in the common carp.

Different phenotypes caused by epistatic effects in common carp: (a) wild-scaled carp, (b) linear carp, (c) mirror carp, and (d) leather carp.

    ii)        Nutrition and diet

Growth, health and reproduction of fish and other aquatic animals are primarily dependent upon an adequate supply of nutrient, both in terms of quantity and quality, irrespective of the culture system in which they are grown. Supply of inputs (feeds, fertilizers etc.) has to be ensured so that the nutrients and energy requirements of the species under cultivation are met and the production goals of the system are achieved.

   iii)        Environmental requirements

Environmental Impacts and Policy Options

Aquaculture has a number of economic and other benefits. But if it is done without adequate environmental safeguards it can cause environmental degradation. The main environmental effects of marine aquaculture can be divided into the following five categories:

1. Biological Pollution: Fish that escape from aquaculture facilities may harm wild fish populations through competition and inter-breeding, or by spreading diseases and parasites. Escaped farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) are a particular problem, and may threaten endangered wild Atlantic salmon in Maine. In the future, farming transgenic, or genetically modified, fish may exacerbate concerns about biological pollution.
2. Fish for Fish Feeds: Some types of aquaculture use large quantities of wild-caught fish as feed ingredients, and thus indirectly affect marine ecosystems thousands of miles from fish farms.
3. Organic Pollution and Eutrophication: Some aquaculture systems contribute to nutrient loading through discharges of fish wastes and uneaten feed. Compared to the largest U.S. sources of nutrient pollution, aquaculture’s contribution is small, but it can be locally significant.
4. Chemical Pollution: A variety of approved chemicals are used in aquaculture, including antibiotics and pesticides. Chemical use in U.S. aquaculture is low compared to use in terrestrial agriculture, but antibiotic resistance and harm to nontarget species are concerns.
5. Habitat Modification: Marine aquaculture spreads over 26,000 marine hectares, or roughly 100 square miles. Some facilities attract marine predators, and can harm them through accidental entanglement or intentional harassment techniques.

Environmental Risks of Marine Aquaculture (Ocean Conservancy)

  iv)        Effluent (waste) control and water availability

 Many aquaculture systems generate high amounts of wastewater containing compounds such as suspended solids, total nitrogen and total phosphorus. Today, aquaculture is imperative because fish demand is increasing. However, the load of waste is directly proportional to the fish production. Therefore, it is necessary to develop more intensive fish culture with efficient systems for wastewater treatment. An example for wastewater treatment in Constructed wetland technology has grown in popularity for wastewater treatment since the early 1970s . Wetlands are a well-established and cost-effective method for treating wastewater, such as municipal or domestic sewage, industrial and agricultural wastewater, landfill leachate, and stormwater runoff as described by Webb et al.

Typical man-made constructed wetland for a recirculation system.

    v)        Control of diseases and parasites

What is being done to minimize disease risks?

Measures to combat diseases of fish and shellfish have only recently assumed a high priority in many aquaculture-producing regions of the world. Development of such measures was stimulated by the serious socio-economic losses and environmental impacts caused by aquatic animal diseases, as well as threats to food availability/security and the livelihoods of vulnerable sectors of society. Many countries have improved their laboratory facilities, diagnostic expertise, control protocols and therapeutic strategies in order to better handle disease outbreaks. In addition, many farmers, especially in developed countries, have improved their capacity to respond quickly and effectively to emergent disease situations. They have also greatly enhanced their disease prevention awareness. Similar efforts towards strengthening aquatic animal health capacities in many developing countries are also being actively pursued, though many are still marginal.

                           List of disease in the Asia-Pasific Aquatic Animal 

This gizzard shad has VHS, a deadly infectious disease which causes bleeding. It afflicts over 50 species of freshwater and marine fish in the northern hemisphere.

This flatfish Limanda limanda has an outgrowth called a xenoma. It is caused by a microsporidian fungal parasite in its intestines.

                                 Aquatic animal health record keeping options