Culturing the sea cucumber Holothuria poli in open-water integrated multi-trophic aquaculture at a coastal Mediterranean fish farm

Cutajar, Karl; Falconer, Lynne; Massa-Gallucci, Alexia; Cox, Rachel E.; Schenke, Lena; Bardócz, Tamás; Sharman, Angus; Deguara, Simeon; Telfer, Trevor

doi:10.1016/j.aquaculture.2021.737881

Cited by 26 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Waste dispersion models also have an important role to play in IMTA research and development as models are required to understand the potential nutrient transfer, environmental interactions and production consequences of co-cultivating species under different production scenarios [ 36 , 37 ]. For a balanced system with net removal of wastes, models need to quantify and resolve the distribution and impact of particulate wastes around the fish farm [ 38 , 39 ]. Resolving farm-level complexities can provide essential information about the variability of food availability and quality for extractive organisms to recycle aquaculture-derived organic wastes effectively and to maximise production.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Real-world waste dispersion modelling for benthic integrated multi-trophic aquaculture

Cutajar,

Falconer,

Sharman

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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In real-world situations, marine fish farms accommodate multiple fish species and cohorts within the farm, leading to diverse farm layouts influenced by cage dimensions, configurations, and intricate arrangements. These cage management practices are essential to meet production demands, however, farm-level complexities can impact model predictions of waste deposition and benthic impact near fish cages. This is of particular importance when the cages are used for integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) with benthic feeders, where this waste not only affects environmental conditions but also provides a potential food source. The Cage Aquaculture Particulate Output and Transport (CAPOT) model incorporated multiple species, cohorts, and cage arrangements to estimate waste distribution from a commercial fish farm in the Mediterranean between October 2018 and July 2019. This spreadsheet model estimated dispersion for individual fish cages using a grid resolution of 5 m x 5 m. The study categorized discrete production periods for each fish cage every month, aligning with intermittent changes in biomass and food inputs due to different cage management practices throughout production. This approach facilitated the use of detailed input data and enhanced model representativeness by considering variations in cage biomass, food types, settling velocities, and configurations. Model outputs, represented in contour plots, indicated higher deposition directly below fish cages that varied monthly throughout fish production cycles. Deposition footprints reflected changes in cage biomass, food inputs, and farm-level practices reflecting this real-world scenario where aquaculture does not follow a production continuum. Moreover, cohort dynamics and cage movements associated with the cage management practices of the fish farm influenced the quantity and fate of wastes distributed around fish cages, revealing variability in deposition footprints. Clearly, these findings have important implications for the design of benthic IMTA systems, with species such as sea cucumber and polychaetes. Variability in waste deposition creates challenges in identifying where the benthic organisms should be placed to allow optimal uptake of waste to meet their food requirements and increase survivability. Evidently, models have an important role to play and this study emphasizes the need for representative input data to describe actual food inputs, cage biomass changes, and management practices for more representative farm-scale modelling and essentially to improve particulate waste management. To effectively mitigate benthic impacts through IMTA, models must quantify and resolve particulate waste distribution and impact around fish farms to maintain a balanced system with net removal of wastes. Resolving farm-level complexities provides vital information about the variability of food availability and quality for extractive organisms that helps improve recycling of organic wastes in integrated systems, demanding a more representative modelling approach.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Real-world waste dispersion modelling for benthic integrated multi-trophic aquaculture

Cutajar,

Falconer,

Sharman

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

Self Cite

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“…For example, Costa et al (2014) were able to get a significant growth (0.89 ± 0.29% d − 1 ) with juveniles of H. tubulosa (between 23.7 and 24.1 g) kept twice as long (60 days), but in laboratory conditions. In openwater, but with another species (H. poli), a recent study also observed significant growth, but low survival, of juveniles over 1 year (Cutajar et al 2022). Sea cucumbers are stresssensitive with physiological responses observed in response to environmental changes (Jobson et al, 2021;Hou et al, 2019;Kamyab et al, 2017).…”

Section: Survival Of H Tubulosa Below Fish Cagesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Is Holothuria tubulosa the golden goose of ecological aquaculture in the Mediterranean Sea?

Sadoul

Caprioli²,

Barrier-Loiseau

et al. 2022

Aquaculture

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“…In comparison to closed land‐based IMTA systems, coastal or open‐water IMTA is more challenging due to the dynamic nature of the marine environment and uncertainties about the transfer of nutrients between the grown species 156 . Farm management practices, site layout, and physical environmental characteristics all influence the dispersion of solid and dissolved nutrients, and environmental and biological factors also influence uptake by extractive organisms 157 . This makes setting general guidelines difficult as a range of combinations of species and production techniques could be involved, for example, suspension‐feeding bivalves, 158 organic deposit‐feeders such as sea cucumbers 157 and inorganic nutrient‐extractive species such as seaweed 159 .…”

Section: Review Of Research Articles and Academic Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planning and licensing for marine aquaculture

Falconer

Cutajar

Krupandan

et al. 2023

Reviews in Aquaculture

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Marine aquaculture has the potential to increase its contribution to the global food system and provide valuable ecosystem services, but appropriate planning, licensing and regulation systems must be in place to enable sustainable development. At present, approaches vary considerably throughout the world, and several national and regional investigations have highlighted the need for reforms if marine aquaculture is to fulfil its potential. This article aims to map and evaluate the challenges of planning and licensing for growth of sustainable marine aquaculture. Despite the range of species, production systems and circumstances, this study found a number of common themes in the literature; complicated and fragmented approaches to planning and

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Culturing the sea cucumber Holothuria poli in open-water integrated multi-trophic aquaculture at a coastal Mediterranean fish farm

Cited by 26 publications

References 52 publications

Real-world waste dispersion modelling for benthic integrated multi-trophic aquaculture

Real-world waste dispersion modelling for benthic integrated multi-trophic aquaculture

Is Holothuria tubulosa the golden goose of ecological aquaculture in the Mediterranean Sea?

Planning and licensing for marine aquaculture

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