Tag land-based aquaculture

Land-based aquaculture, perhaps the ultimate environmental risk-mitigation tool, was the talk of the town at the IntraFish Seafood Investor Forum. Once scoffed at for high capital and energy requirements, RAS now has a crowded bandwagon. 

In a wide-ranging interview, the Marine Conservation Society’s aquaculture program manager applauds innovation, decries food waste and gives a look inside the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Standards Oversight Committee. She touches upon land-based fish farming, aquafeed production and retailers’ huge responsibilities. 

Bivalve shellfish culture is a low-impact form of protein production, and in many cases is a net-positive for water quality. So why move it indoors? Smit & Smit in the Netherlands has a good argument for doing so. 

Land-based cultivation of macroalgae can minimize impacts on wild macroalgae stocks while reducing harvest costs and controlling quality. Integration of macroalgae with land-based fish culture systems could reduce capital and operating costs. 

Dozens of land-based, closed-containment salmonid RAS systems are coming on line. New projects are bringing new principles into the salmon industry. Industry expansion hinges upon the development of pollution-mitigating technologies to reduce nutrients in effluents.