Summary

Global aquaculture remains the fastest growing food industry with growth since 1970 of 8.8% per annum. This growth compares with 1.2% and 2.8% for capture fisheries and terrestrial farmed meat production respectively. Total global aquaculture production reached 59.4 million tonnes in 2004, worth an estimated US$ 70.3 billion, including 46 million tonnes of aquaculture product consumed for food. Global demand for seafood has continued to rise, fuelled by global population growth and an increase in per capita consumption due to increasing protein consumption in many developing countries and an increase in relative preference for seafood protein in many developed countries. Global population was estimated at 6.72 billion in November 2008 and, while growth has halved from the peak in around 1963, it is predicted to reach 9 billion by 2040. Seafood consumption has increased to 16.6 kg/person/yr, the highest on record. To cater for global demands in 2020, an estimated 70 million tonnes of seafood will be required from aquaculture (FAO, 2007).

Past production increases have come from new industries, new areas for production and intensification of production, mainly in developing countries. Since the early practice of capturing and holding animals, aquaculture has become much more sophisticated with most animals being bred in purpose built hatcheries, cultured in ponds, cages or tanks, often with some control over the environment, harvested for a specific market and often processed to add value to the product. The massive production increase (from approximately 1 million tonnes in 1950’s to 59.4 million tonnes in 2004) arose from increases in the area under culture and the number of species cultured and from a shift in the reliance on natural feeds to the greater use of formulated feeds that supplied increasingly amounts of the species requirements.  Improvements in other aspects of husbandry, such as health management, and better technology, such as cage and tank systems, also contributed.

New technology is now needed to boost production, protect fragile environment and supply the highest quality product. It is fair to say that the easy gains in production increase have now been made and to increase production in the next decade and a half to 70 million tonnes or beyond, will require a major new improvement in technology. This is the subject of this book, “Aquaculture: New Technologies”. 

We have divided the contents of this book into six sections and selected international experts to contribute individual chapters. The first four sections deal with developments in new technologies for genetic improvement and reproduction, health, diet and husbandry and aquaculture system design. 

Aquaculture has lagged behind agriculture in applying genetic improvement techniques but this is a rapidly changing field. We present chapters that detail advances in genetic improvement for finfish, shrimp and molluscs, controlling reproduction and gender and sterility and genomics. Stress and disease accompany intensive animal production for all species and managing health is a fundamental requirement for all aquaculture producers. We are regularly discovering new diseases for aquatic animals but fortunately we are also developing new treatments and therapies. In the Health section, advances in diagnosis, vaccine development, and new methods to control viruses, parasites and other pathogens are presented. The major operating cost for all aquaculture species that are fed is diets and feeding costs. In the Diet and Husbandry section of the book, we have selected chapters that document advances in larval marine fish nutrition, challenges and opportunities with selection of dietary ingredients, bioenergetic modelling to estimate nutritional requirements and specific advances in nutritional science for salmonids; catfish, carps and tilapia and seabasses and breams. There is also a chapter on microalgal culture – used as a feed for molluscs and other organisms and as a product for human and animal nutrition, in cosmetics and pharmaceutics, and for environmental applications. There is also a chapter on the impact of harmful algal blooms on shellfish aquaculture. In the fourth section of the book, chapters describing the latest technology for offshore and open ocean aquaculture, tank-based recirculating systems, land-based finfish and shrimp pond culture systems are presented.  Chapters on inland saline aquaculture, urban aquaculture and traditional Asian aquaculture are also included. To conclude this section of the book we have included a chapter on the use of information technology in aquaculture.

The final two parts of the book look at environmental issues and new “species” for aquaculture. Sustainability can be interpreted in many ways but whatever your definition there is universal agreement that all human activities must have a minimal impact on the environment. Therefore in the environmental part of the book, chapters are included on prediction and assessments of environmental impacts, advances in effluent treatment, reducing the impacts of escapees, the role of geographical information systems (GIS) in aquaculture and aquaculture for zooremediation. The new “species” part examines the latest developments for high value species including cod, halibut and wolfish; cobia; lobsters and the aquaculture of pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals.

Several figures from the book have additionally been included as colour plates in an eight-page section which appears between pages 576 and 577.

An analysis of past advances in aquaculture gives optimism for the future. While the challenges are great, the adoption of new technology will facilitate rapid future increases in production. The potential of genetic improvement is still largely untapped, new health management strategies will reduce production costs and while there are considerable constraints with the supply of feed ingredients, advances in our understanding of nutritional requirements will improve feed efficiency. New production systems will also allow production to increase and take production closer to the market for high value species. The world is facing increasing challenges with food security and aquatic protein will continue to play a major role in both the developing and developed world. Aquaculture is critical for the future supply of seafood and other aquatic products.