Environmental performance of brackish water polyculture system from a life cycle perspective: A Filipino case study

Self Cite

Ecological intensification is a new concept in agriculture that addresses the double challenge of maintaining a level of production sufficient to support needs of human populations and respecting the environment in order to conserve the natural world and human quality of life. This article adapts this concept to fish farming using agroecological principles and the ecosystem services framework. The method was developed from the study of published literature and applications at four study sites chosen for their differences in production intensity: polyculture ponds in France, integrated pig and pond polyculture in Brazil, the culture of striped catfish in Indonesia and a recirculating salmon aquaculture system in France. The study of stakeholders' perceptions of ecosystem services combined with environmental assessment through Life Cycle Assessment and Emergy accounting allowed development of an assessment tool that was used as a basis for co-building evolution scenarios. From this experience, ecological intensification of aquaculture was defined as the use of ecological processes and functions to increase productivity, strengthen ecosystem services and decrease disservices. It is based on aquaecosystem and biodiversity management and the use of local and traditional knowledge. Expected consequences for farming systems consist of greater autonomy, efficiency and better integration into their surrounding territories. Ecological intensification requires territorial governance and helps improve it from a sustainable development perspective.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Implementing ecological intensification in fish farming: definition and principles from contrasting experiences

Aubin

Callier

Rey‐Valette

et al. 2017

Self Cite

“…LCA is a methodology developed by the International Organization for Standardization ISO (2006a,b) to estimate the environmental impacts and identify processes that are less efficient from the environmental point of view. It was developed by the industrial sector, and since the year 2000, several LCA studies related to aquaculture species and rearing systems have been published (Pelletier & Tyedmers 2010;Cao et al 2011;Jerbi et al 2012;Huysveld et al 2013;Aubin et al 2015;Medeiros et al 2017). This methodology is divided into four major steps: goal and scope, inventory, impact assessment and interpretation of results.…”

Section: Environmental Impact Assessment Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of strategies that contribute to the environmental sustainability of pond aquaculture: rearing systems, residue treatment, and environmental assessment tools

Henares

Medeiros

Camargo

2019

Aquaculture is responsible for almost 50% of the global production of aquatic organisms. However, the activity generates residues that cause environmental impacts. Several strategies can be adopted from the planning stage to the residue treatment to reduce these negative impacts. Alternative rearing systems, such as integrated multi‐trophic aquaculture (IMTA), integrated aquaculture‐agriculture systems, recirculation systems (RAS) and biofloc (BFT), can be implemented in place of the traditional monocultures. At the residue treatment stage, the solids particles can be removed by the settlement of suspended solids in tanks or mechanical filters. The reduction in dissolved nutrients is used in biological filters, constructed wetlands or the irrigation of agricultural crops. Finally, we describe the methodologies that are used to estimate the aquaculture environmental impacts. These methodologies allow the stages and processes that have a higher environmental impact in the production chain to be identified. Among them, we can highlight the life‐cycle assessment (LCA), emergy analysis and ecological footprint. The strategies described in this study can contribute to increasing aquaculture sustainability; however, studies should be developed that focus on more than just productivity and profitability, as it is necessary to include social and environmental issues.

“…; Aubin et al . ). In contrast, other studies showed polyculture systems to have lower environmental impacts thanks to their potential for species complementarity (Kluts et al .…”

Section: Comparative Performances Of Aquaculture Systemsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Life cycle assessments of aquaculture systems: a critical review of reported findings with recommendations for policy and system development

Bohnes

Hauschild

Schlundt

2018

134

The aquaculture sector is anticipated to be a keystone in food production systems in the coming decades. However, it is associated with potentially important environmental damages caused by its contribution to eutrophication or climate change, for example. To comprehensively quantify those impacts, life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have been conducted on several seafood farming systems for the past 15 years. But, what major findings and common trends can we draw from this pool of studies? What can we learn to provide recommendations to decision and policymakers in the aquaculture sector? To address these questions, we performed a critical review of 65 LCA studies of aquaculture systems from the open literature. We conducted quantitative analyses to explore which impacts can be identified as dominating and to compare different types of aquaculture systems. Our results evidenced that the feed production is a key driver for climate change, acidification, cumulative energy use and net primary production use, while the farming process is a key driver for eutrophication. We also found that different aquaculture systems and technology components may exert considerably different environmental impacts. Based on identified patterns and comparisons, we therefore provided specific recommendations to aquaculture stakeholders for future policy and system development. Overall, the analysis of existing studies demonstrates that important insights can be gained by applying LCA to aquaculture systems, and, to move towards an environmentally sustainable aquaculture sector, we recommend its systematic use in the design of new aquaculture systems or policies, and/or in the evaluation and optimization of existing ones.