Browsing by Author "Marc C. J. Verdegem"

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    Nutrient discharge from aquaculture operations in function of system design and production environment
    (Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd, 2012-09) Marc C. J. Verdegem
    In aquaculture, nutrient loading is defined as the difference between nutrients supplied with fertilizers and feed and nutrients harvested in the form of finfish, crustaceans, molluscs and seaweeds. On average, the production of finfish and crustaceans results in a net nutrient loading, while for the production of molluscs and seaweeds the nutrient loading is negative. In marine and brackish water aquaculture, on a global scale, more nutrients are extracted than added to the environment. However, in freshwater, more nutrients are loaded than extracted. In 2008, the global aquaculture production of finfish and crustaceans resulted in an environmental loading of 1.7 million metric tonnes of nitrogen (N) and 0.46 million metric tonnes of phosphorus (P). This nitrogen loading represents 0.9% of the human input to the N-cycle and 0.4% of the global N-cycle. For phosphorus, the loading from finfish and crustacean aquaculture represents 2.3% of the global annual fertilizer supply. With cage aquaculture, nutrients are directly discharged to the environment. Mitigation measures should be shared equally between all polluters involved. For land-based aquaculture, the development of water re-use systems is still in its infancy. Although still a minor contributor to global aquaculture production, recirculation technology shows that control and mitigation of pollution from aquaculture is possible. A 15–20 year goal should be to have all inland aquaculture operations applying water re-use and purification technology and generating useful (waste) outputs in addition to standard aquaculture products.
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    Nutrient retention efficiencies in integrated multi-trophic aquaculture
    (John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd, 2021-12) Marit A. J. Nederlof; Marc C. J. Verdegem; Aad C. Smaal; Henrice M. Jansen
    One of the bottlenecks for commercial implementation of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) is the difficulty in quantifying its environmental performance. We reviewed a large body of literature to determine the variability in nutrient dynamics within different IMTA systems (open sea-cages, land-based flow-through and recirculating aquaculture systems), with the aim to provide a generic framework to quantify nutrient retention efficiencies in integrated aquaculture systems. Based on the eco-physiological requirements of the cultured species, as well as the response of “extractive” species to waste from “fed” species, the maximum retention efficiency was defined for a conceptual four-species marine IMTA system (fish–seaweed– bivalve– deposit feeder). This demonstrated that 79%–94% of nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon supplied with fish feed could theoretically be retained. In practice, however, various biological and environmental factors may limit retention efficiencies and thereby influence the bioremediation of IMTA systems. These biological (waste production, stoichiometry in nutrient requirements) and environmental (temporal and spatial connectivity) factors were therefore evaluated against the theoretical reference frame and showed that efficiencies of 45%–75% for closed systems and 40%–50% for open systems are more realistic. This study is thereby the first to provide quantitative estimates for nutrient retention across IMTA systems, demonstrating that a substantial fraction of nutrients released from fish culture units can be retained by extractive species and subsequently harvested. Furthermore, by adapting this framework to the design and the condition prevailing for a specific IMTA system, it becomes a generic tool to analyse the system's bioremediation potential and explore options for further improvement.