Reviews in Aquaculture最新文献

Carbohydrates serve as essential macronutrients in aquaculture feeds, providing cost-efficiency and numerous advantages, including energy supply, pellet stability, reduced ammonia excretion, and support for exoskeleton synthesis in crustaceans. Despite their significance, research on carbohydrate nutrition in crustaceans has been relatively limited compared to finfish. This comprehensive review addresses this knowledge gap by presenting contemporary insights into carbohydrate utilization in commercially important crustacean species, encompassing shrimps, prawns, crabs, lobsters, and crayfishes. The review underscores the pivotal role of carbohydrates, identifies limiting factors, and outlines strategies for enhancing efficiency. Wheat and sorghum/milo emerge as particularly promising carbohydrate sources. Nevertheless, determining species-specific carbohydrate inclusion levels remains essential for further investigation. This review also emphasizes species-specific distinctions in carbohydrate utilization during starvation, influenced by factors such as age, moulting stage, and digestive capacity. Challenging the misconception that carbohydrates are superfluous for crustaceans is imperative. Additional research to advance comprehension of their utilization mechanisms is vital. Enhanced knowledge of carbohydrate utilization can pave the way for economically sustainable and environmentally friendly feeds in crustacean aquaculture. Furthermore, exploring exogenous enzyme potential, optimizing pre-treatment methodologies, and harnessing probiotics can further augment carbohydrate utilization. These advancements hold promise for bolstering the growth and sustainability of the crustacean industry, meeting the surging demand for seafood production while minimizing environmental impact.

A circular economy is considered one way to reduce environmental impacts of human activities, by more efficient use of resources and recovery, resulting in less waste and emissions compared to linear take-make-dispose systems. Muscat et al. developed five ecological principles to guide biomass use towards a circular economy. A few studies have demonstrated environmental benefits of applying these principles to land-based food systems, but to date, these principles have not been explored in aquaculture. The current study expands on these principles and provides a narrative review to (i) translate them to aquaculture, while identifying implications for the main species and production systems, and (ii) identify the main pathways to make aquaculture more circular. We show that the underlying concepts of the ‘safeguard’, ‘entropy’, and ‘recycle’ principles have been well researched and sometimes well implemented. In contrast, the ‘avoid’ and ‘prioritise’ principles have been explored much less; doing so would provide an opportunity to decrease environmental impacts of aquaculture at the food-system level. One example is prioritising the production of species that contribute to food and nutrition security, have low environmental impacts and thinking at wider food system scale to avoid feed-food competition in aquaculture. We identified six priorities that could make aquaculture more circular: (i) increase production and demand for the most essential species, (ii) decrease food loss and waste at farm and post-harvest stages, (iii) support nutrient recycling practices at multiple scales, (iv) adapt aquafeed formulations, (v) inform consumers about benefits of species of low trophic levels and other environmentally friendly aquatic foods, and (vi) address urgent research gaps.

Parasitic infections can be occasionally severe in the European marine aquaculture industry, including the Mediterranean region, as they can incur considerable financial losses. Due to the lack of commercial vaccines, therapeutic approaches seem the only measure to battle parasitic outbreaks. Integrated strategies and increased resilience of the hosts, may limit to some degree the level of infestation. Ectoparasitic therapy is traditionally based on baths, with few exceptions. Several antiparasitic compounds have been registered in European aquatic medicine to combat mainly salmon sea lice; however, few of them are readily used against Mediterranean fish parasites. Formalin and less commonly hydrogen peroxide baths are applied against ectoparasites in the Mediterranean region. Most of the registered anti-lice antiparasitics have limited potential perhaps due to their adverse environmental impact. Future therapies against fish parasites will rely mainly on effective substances ensuring consumer, animal, and environmental welfare. Ideally, dietary antiparasitics such as praziquantel exhibiting mild environmental impact and high efficacy against a wide range of pathogens should be adopted. Moreover, combined strategies such as integrated pest management, involving various management practices with limited use of chemicals, should be a priority for specific parasitic outbreaks. The information presented in this review can guide future research and promote effective and prudent parasite control practices for Mediterranean-farmed fish.

The food production system ‘aquaponics’ has moved a long way from its inceptions in the 1970s and 1980s. This paper suggests that it is the principle of aquaponics that should define what aquaponics is and then the rest follows according to systems and technologies. This paper supports the Palm et al. (Aquac Int. 2018;26(3):813–42) position of having a nutrient supply threshold (>50%) from the feed via the aquatic organisms to the plants. We test the most recent alternative definitions (e.g. Baganz et al. Rev Aquac. 2021;14:252–64) that overcomplicate existing definitions and nomenclature. Any new definition needs to be referential to existing terms and properly tested. This paper does exactly that, concluding that several recent changes by Baganz et al. (Rev Aquac. 2021;14:252–64) are not needed. We also debate that the key principle behind aquaponics is ‘all about coupling’. Whilst coupling is an important aspect, existing technologies and those that will emerge are far more complex. Finally, this paper highlights the idiosyncrasies in the term aquaponics and we suggest an alternative term ‘aquaorganoponics’, which in essence better describes the principles of aquaponics (s.s.) which transfers natural organic compounds combined with microbes in water from the aquaculture unit to the plants.

Open offshore areas boast strong physical self-purification capacity and abundant non-fossil energy resources, such as wind, waves, and solar energy. Consequently, the global community anticipates nearshore aquaculture to transition towards offshore to help increase production, alleviate eutrophication, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To date, China has constructed over 40 sets of deeper-offshore aquaculture (DOA) infrastructures, encompassing various types of pens, cages and closed containment systems. Although DOA holds vast potential to address food security and aquaculture sustainability in China, its current development trajectory struggles to meet those goals and primarily achieves profitability by focusing on high-value species or products. For DOA to realize its potential, innovative production systems must tackle three key contradictions: enterprise profitability versus product affordability, clean energy-based products versus carbon-intensive products, and automated operation versus re-employment of coastal fish farmers. Resolving these contradictions requires the development of a large-scale, anti-typhoon offshore enclosure that integrates mariculture with other industries, such as wind farming, food processing, and tourism. This approach will foster a sustainable balance between profitability, environmental impact, and employment opportunities in the sector.