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Environmental sustainability and footprints of global aquaculture
Abstract
While aquaculture is critical to global food and nutrition security, the fast development of aquaculture production systems has recently increased concerns about resource overexploitation and associated environmental impacts. Understanding how sustainable is current global aquaculture practice is important given its potential impacts on key sustainable development goals (SDGs). Here, for the first time, we developed a food-energy-water-carbon (FEWC) composite sustainability index (0–100) to assess the sustainability of global aquaculture across countries. Results indicate that the overall sustainability of global aquaculture is low (average score = 26) with none achieving a high sustainability score (75–100) and almost all practicing aquaculture in a relatively low sustainable way (0–50). Considering the sub-sustainability at a sector level, 80% of countries had at least two sectors among FEWC falling into the low sustainable zone (score less than 25). Regarding the environmental impacts, global aquaculture production accounted for approximately 1765.2 × 10³ TJ energy use, 122.6 km³ water consumption, and 261.3 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018. China led all countries by contributing to more than half of global aquaculture water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, followed by India and Indonesia. This study highlights the significance of cross-sectoral management and policymaking to achieve global aquaculture sustainability.
... m, n, and k, which represent the number of indicators in Resource Utilization, Environmental Pollution, and Societal Benefits, respectively. The data of greenhouse gas emissions, energy, and freshwater use for each country was extracted from Jiang et al. 32 ; the parameters used to calculate nitrogen and phosphorus emissions, as well as land use, were sourced from Gephart et al. 10 , with these three parameters, we further calculated the total nitrogen and phosphorus emissions as well as land use for each country as well as the comprehensive sustainability index. See Methods for more details. ...
... The higher environmental performance of developed countries (GDP/capita) was mainly due to reduced resource use and higher societal benefits associated with the aquaculture methods used in those countries ( Fig. 3 and Supplementary Fig. S10b,d). Although Asian countries are leading the world production of aquaculture products 4,30,31 , the sustainability of Asian aquaculture remains limited, probably due to non-optimized farming techniques that are not as efficient as those employed in developed countries 32 . Indeed, most freshwater aquaculture in Asia is based on extensive pond aquaculture which is highly demanding in land use resources and not optimized for energy conversion 33 . ...
... Bivalves, for instance, have an edible weight that is only about 20% of their total weight, which could lead to inaccurate comparisons. The data for aquaculture production (fishes, shrimp, and bivalves) and economy income in USD in 2018 for each country were obtained from the FAO FishStat database (http://www.fao.org/fishery/), and the economic value per unit of production is extracted from the results of Jiang et al. 32 . ...
As a crucial source of protein for humans, aquaculture provides societal benefits but also poses environmental costs making it pivotal to strike a balance between costs and benefits to ensure aquaculture sustainability. Here we developed a composite sustainability index integrating societal benefits and environmental costs of aquaculture. The results show that two-fifths of the 161 countries achieved a high sustainability score (score > 50) in 2018, indicating a considerable need for improvement in the sustainability of aquaculture worldwide. This was particularly true for Asian countries (average score 45.01 ± 11.44), while European countries outperformed other regions (60.15 ± 13.64). Moreover, a Boosted Regression Tree model revealed that 59.3% of the variance in aquaculture sustainability was supported by eight indicators, including social factors, geographical effects, and aquaculture structures. By focusing on bivalve production and maintaining an optimized choice of fishes and shrimp taxa, the sustainability of global aquaculture could be enhanced.
... The carbon footprint of salmon from RAS with fossil fuel-based electricity (7.01 tons (t) CO 2 eq/t) is double that of salmon from open net pens in terms of production-only carbon emissions (3.39 t CO 2 eq/t) . These efforts provide preliminary insights into the contribution of aquaculture to GHG emissions; however, estimates and predictions vary due to differences in databases, system boundaries, and methodologies Jiang et al., 2022). These previous comparisons revealed that GHG emissions depend not only on culture models and specific species but also on where aquaculture occurs (Table 2). ...
... The growing global demand for feed protein greatly drives the increasing soy cultivation in Amazonia and southern Asia (Nepstad et al., 2006;Richards and Friess, 2016), which has been identified as an important driver of deforestation and a contributor to GHG emissions associated with land use change (Fearnside, 2001;Nepstad et al., 2006). While switching to deforestation-free soy and crops mitigates climate change and cumulative energy consumption, other impacts, such as land use and water resources, might increase (MacLeod et al., 2020;Henriksson et al., 2021;Jiang et al., 2022). For example, plant ingredients in feeds are related to more land use and potential for aquatic eutrophication due to the use of fertilizers. ...
... Unless there are exceptional scientific advancements, a great challenge facing consumers is shifting their dietary eating behavior (Tobler et al., 2011). Efforts have been made to improve the sustainability and footprint of global aquaculture (Gephart et al., 2016;Robb et al., 2017;MacLeod et al., 2020;Jiang et al., 2022) and address double bottom lines of aquaculture for increasing global nutrient-rich food production in aquaculture and minimizing environmental impacts in tandem (Tilman and Clark, 2014;Hallstr€ om et al., 2019;Gephart and Golden, 2022); however, these aspects are rarely included in the dietary guidelines (Gonzalez Fischer and Garnett, 2016). The government should promote the transition of consumption habits through specific price guidance and the popularization of science based on nutritional quality and environmental consequences. ...
... The growth of aquaculture has frequently led to environmental damage. Thereafter, it is crucial to encourage sustainable aquaculture development to meet the increasing demand for seafood accompanying with prioritizing environmental conservation (Eissa et al., 2024;Jiang et al., 2022). Currently, farmed fish account for the 6th of global consumption of animal protein in the human diet (Belton et al., 2018;Jiang et al., 2022). ...
... Thereafter, it is crucial to encourage sustainable aquaculture development to meet the increasing demand for seafood accompanying with prioritizing environmental conservation (Eissa et al., 2024;Jiang et al., 2022). Currently, farmed fish account for the 6th of global consumption of animal protein in the human diet (Belton et al., 2018;Jiang et al., 2022). In order to meet the increasing demand for aquaculture products, fish farmers are adopting more intensive methods to enhance fish productivity and health (Boyd et al., 2022;Jiang et al., 2022). ...
... Currently, farmed fish account for the 6th of global consumption of animal protein in the human diet (Belton et al., 2018;Jiang et al., 2022). In order to meet the increasing demand for aquaculture products, fish farmers are adopting more intensive methods to enhance fish productivity and health (Boyd et al., 2022;Jiang et al., 2022). However, these intensive aquaculture systems can introduce various stressors that negatively impact the well-being and welfare of farmed fish, resulting in diseases, higher mortality rates, and financial losses (Tian and Dong, 2023). ...
Phytochemicals are used in fish farming to reduce stress and combat diseases during intensification. Recently, nanotechnology has represented a paradigm shift in the aquatic feed industry to improve the solubility, availability , and efficacy of phytochemicals. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with nano-curcumin (CUNE) on the growth, feed utilization, body composition, blood biochemistry, antioxidant status, disease resistance to Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. parahaemolyticus), and the expression of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), growth hormone (GH), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and interlukin-1β (IL-1β) genes in European Seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) fingerlings. Fish (6.02±0.01) were randomly divided into four equal groups and fed varying levels of CUNE: 0 (CUNE0), 50 (CUNE1), 60 (CUNE2), and 70 mg/kg (CUNE3) of nano-curcumin for 56 days, respectively. The inclusion of dietary CUNE significantly improved the growth indices (final body weight and weight gain, and specific growth rate) and feed utilization (improved feed intake and lower FCR) of European seabass fingerlings (p<0.05). However, CUNE inclusion had no significant effect on body composition including the percentages of dry mater, crude protein, crude lipid, and ash (p>0.05). All CUNE groups established an enhancement in blood hematology in a dose-dependent manner, with CUNE3 demonstrating the highest values. CUNE supplementation (70 mg/kg diet) produced the highest levels of total protein, albumin, globulin, and triglycerides, as well as the lowest levels of glucose, and hepatic enzymes (ALT, AST, and ALP; p<0.05) compared to other groups. Furthermore, the CUNE-supplemented groups showed significant improvements in superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase, while reducing malon-dialdehyde (p<0.05). Additionally, the consumption of CUNE increased the expression of IGF-1, GH, and IL-10 genes in a dose-dependent manner (p<0.05). Interestingly, fish fed 70 mg of CUNE in their diets had lower expression of the IL-1β gene compared to the other groups (p<0.05). When the fish were challenged with V. parahaemolyticus, the addition of CUNE in their diets resulted in reduced mortality rates. Therefore, nano-curcumin could be considered as a natural feed additive to promote growth, feed utilization, and bacteria 2 resistance via supporting antioxidant status, serum metabolites, and the regulation of GH, IL-10, and IGF-1 in the hepatic tissues of European seabass fingerlings.
... The growth of aquaculture has frequently led to environmental damage. Thereafter, it is crucial to encourage sustainable aquaculture development to meet the increasing demand for seafood accompanying with prioritizing environmental conservation (Eissa et al., 2024;Jiang et al., 2022). Currently, farmed fish account for the 6th of global consumption of animal protein in the human diet (Belton et al., 2018;Jiang et al., 2022). ...
... Thereafter, it is crucial to encourage sustainable aquaculture development to meet the increasing demand for seafood accompanying with prioritizing environmental conservation (Eissa et al., 2024;Jiang et al., 2022). Currently, farmed fish account for the 6th of global consumption of animal protein in the human diet (Belton et al., 2018;Jiang et al., 2022). In order to meet the increasing demand for aquaculture products, fish farmers are adopting more intensive methods to enhance fish productivity and health (Boyd et al., 2022;Jiang et al., 2022). ...
... Currently, farmed fish account for the 6th of global consumption of animal protein in the human diet (Belton et al., 2018;Jiang et al., 2022). In order to meet the increasing demand for aquaculture products, fish farmers are adopting more intensive methods to enhance fish productivity and health (Boyd et al., 2022;Jiang et al., 2022). However, these intensive aquaculture systems can introduce various stressors that negatively impact the well-being and welfare of farmed fish, resulting in diseases, higher mortality rates, and financial losses (Tian and Dong, 2023). ...
Phytochemicals are used in fish farming to reduce stress and combat diseases during intensification. Recently, nanotechnology has represented a paradigm shift in the aquatic feed industry to improve the solubility, availability , and efficacy of phytochemicals. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with nano-curcumin (CUNE) on the growth, feed utilization, body composition, blood biochemistry, antioxidant status, disease resistance to Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. parahaemolyticus), and the expression of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), growth hormone (GH), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and interlukin-1β (IL-1β) genes in European Seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) fingerlings. Fish (6.02±0.01) were randomly divided into four equal groups and fed varying levels of CUNE: 0 (CUNE0), 50 (CUNE1), 60 (CUNE2), and 70 mg/kg (CUNE3) of nano-curcumin for 56 days, respectively. The inclusion of dietary CUNE significantly improved the growth indices (final body weight and weight gain, and specific growth rate) and feed utilization (improved feed intake and lower FCR) of European seabass fingerlings (p<0.05). However, CUNE inclusion had no significant effect on body composition including the percentages of dry mater, crude protein, crude lipid, and ash (p>0.05). All CUNE groups established an enhancement in blood hematology in a dose-dependent manner, with CUNE3 demonstrating the highest values. CUNE supplementation (70 mg/kg diet) produced the highest levels of total protein, albumin, globulin, and triglycerides, as well as the lowest levels of glucose, and hepatic enzymes (ALT, AST, and ALP; p<0.05) compared to other groups. Furthermore, the CUNE-supplemented groups showed significant improvements in superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase, while reducing malon-dialdehyde (p<0.05). Additionally, the consumption of CUNE increased the expression of IGF-1, GH, and IL-10 genes in a dose-dependent manner (p<0.05). Interestingly, fish fed 70 mg of CUNE in their diets had lower expression of the IL-1β gene compared to the other groups (p<0.05). When the fish were challenged with V. parahaemolyticus, the addition of CUNE in their diets resulted in reduced mortality rates. Therefore, nano-curcumin could be considered as a natural feed additive to promote growth, feed utilization, and bacteria 2 resistance via supporting antioxidant status, serum metabolites, and the regulation of GH, IL-10, and IGF-1 in the hepatic tissues of European seabass fingerlings.
... While climate change poses a significant threat to fish production, inadequate electricity affects the sector as well. Access to electricity is essential for the development of the aquaculture sector, given that it is needed for a range of activities such as water pumping, aerating, and temperature control (Jiang et al., 2022;Mahmoud et al., 2022). However, many rural areas in Africa still lack access to electricity, which limits the potential for the development of the sector. ...
... Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power have the potential to provide a sustainable and costeffective solution to the low (Jiang et al., 2022;Mahmoud et al., 2022). Several studies have shown that renewable energy can be successfully used in aquaculture production (Driscoll & Tyedmers, 2010;Rasooli et al., 2023), providing a sustainable and cost-effective solution to the energy needs of the sector (Jiang et al., 2022;Simpson et al., 2020;Subasinghe et al., 2009;Sun et al., 2023). ...
... Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power have the potential to provide a sustainable and costeffective solution to the low (Jiang et al., 2022;Mahmoud et al., 2022). Several studies have shown that renewable energy can be successfully used in aquaculture production (Driscoll & Tyedmers, 2010;Rasooli et al., 2023), providing a sustainable and cost-effective solution to the energy needs of the sector (Jiang et al., 2022;Simpson et al., 2020;Subasinghe et al., 2009;Sun et al., 2023). As climate change continues to reshape environmental conditions, the interplay with economic development nuances the dynamics of fishery resources in the region. ...
The contribution of aquaculture to economic development cannot be overemphasized. Several factors affect aquaculture production. However, few studies document the impact of climate change, electricity and other macroeconomic covariates on aquaculture production in Africa. The present research's objective is to examine the impact of rainfall, temperature, access to electricity, per capita national income, renewable energy consumption, employment in agriculture, and carbon emissions on aquaculture production in 32 African countries. We rely on panel data using rigorous estimation techniques involving the fixed effects and method of moment quantile regression approaches. Our fixed effects model result indicates that an increase in temperature reduces aquaculture production, while renewable energy consumption, net per capita income, employment in agriculture, and carbon emissions increase aquaculture production. Similarly, the 75th and 90th quantiles of the method of moment quantile regression results indicated that both rainfall and temperature decrease aquaculture production, while renewable energy consumption, employment in agriculture, and carbon emissions increase aquaculture production. The study provides useful insight into the climate, economic, and technological factors that might increase or decrease aquaculture production in Africa and similar contexts. Overall, our findings are important for improving aquaculture production in Africa, particularly with the current low production relative to the global north. The results have implications on the current and future climate action that calls for increased reliance on renewable energy and targeting improvements in agricultural employment, and net national income. Additional efforts are needed to achieve carbon neutrality while ensuring sustainable aquaculture production in Africa.
... Traditionally, the demand for marine products was satisfied through wild fish; however, the fisheries sector caused significant overfishing, which reduced wild fish stocks and damaged marine ecosystems (Sadovy de Mitcheson et al., 2020). In recent years, supply has steadily shifted towards farmed fish, which can supply fish and seafood with lower levels of harm (Jiang et al., 2022). While more sustainable, aquaculture consumes significant amounts of energy and water, emitting sizeable quantities of greenhouse gases (Jiang et al., 2022), and polluting water (Huang, 1997). ...
... In recent years, supply has steadily shifted towards farmed fish, which can supply fish and seafood with lower levels of harm (Jiang et al., 2022). While more sustainable, aquaculture consumes significant amounts of energy and water, emitting sizeable quantities of greenhouse gases (Jiang et al., 2022), and polluting water (Huang, 1997). ...
... The steady increase in the production of fish from aquaculture systems has been widely seen as important way to increase fish and seafood with lower environmental damage (Jiang et al., 2022). Aquaculture, however, causes significant environmental and ecological damage in the surroundings of aquaculture farms (Naylor et al., 2021), and can be made more sustainable by shifting to alternative and more sustainable fishmeal, particularly those made of insects, which provide better nutrition ( A key challenge is the adoption of these products in the marketplace (Arru et al., 2019;Mulazzani et al., 2021). ...
The increased demand for aquaculture products is raising concerns over the impact it has on the environment. Fish-based feed contributes to the unsustainability of aquaculture, as it puts pressure on the current stock of wild fish. Insect-based feed is widely considered a viable replacement for fish-based feed, due to its positive impact on fish nutrition, and its ability to make the system more circular. However, consumer acceptance might be limited, particularly mature consumers, who are typically more reluctant to accept novel foods. Using a Structural Equation Model, this article investigates how information and priming influence the acceptability of insect-farmed fish among Italian consumers aged 55 and over. We show that informing or priming consumers with images of the environment and nature can change consumers’ beliefs about alternative feeds, favoring in turn their attitude toward insect-farmed fish and their consumption intentions. Our findings indicate that behavioral interventions can facilitate the acceptance of novel foods, therefore supporting the development of a more sustainable aquaculture system.
... A total of 622 aquatic species are farmed across a variety of habitats and farming methods (Ahmed and Turchini, 2021). According to Jiang et al. (2022), since the late 1980s, there has been a 5-fold expansion in the global aquaculture production, and it has contributed significantly to the improvement of livelihood conditions, economic growth, job creation, and also the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Aquaculture production is projected to reach 140 million MT in 2050, to help meeting the world's rapidly growing population and stagnation of capture fisheries (Ahmed and Turchini, 2021). ...
... The concept of IMTA could meet most of these criteria including sustainable production as it focuses on a circular economy approach, minimization of energy losses and environmental deterioration (Pereira and Yarish, 2008). Recent literature reported that sustainable aquaculture also contributes to the achievement of the UN SDGs 2 (Jiang et al., 2022). In particular, IMTA robustly supports the achievement of SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger) and SDGs14 (life below water) by helping to reduce poverty, provide food for people, and conserve sustainable use of the 2 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, serve as a blueprint for a sustainable future, targeting poverty eradication, inequality reduction, climate crisis mitigation, peace and justice promotion, and environmental protection, with all 17 interlinked goals to be achieved by 2030 to ensure that no one is left behind. ...
Farmed freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) and black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) comprise a significant portion of Bangladesh’s seafood exports, raising concerns about their environmental impacts. Freshwater prawn farms, which require a relatively high amount of feed supply, release 1.0 MT CO2-equivalents/year, equating to 18.8 kg CO2e/MT prawn, contributing significantly to global warming and climate change risks. Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) offers an alternative farming method to conventional prawn farming systems, as it minimizes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change impacts. Systematically reviewing 112 scientific articles on IMTA, this article offers recommendations for adopting IMTA to promote sustainable freshwater prawn farming in Bangladesh. IMTA is undergoing extensive experimentation and practice in many parts of the world, offering economic benefits, social acceptability, and environmental sustainability. In addition to native prawn species, various indigenous organic extractive freshwater mollusks, and inorganic extractive plants are available which can seamlessly be used to tailor the IMTA system. Extractive organisms, including aquatic mollusks and plants within prawn farms, can capture blue carbon effectively lowering GHG emissions and helping mitigate climate change impacts. Aquatic mollusks offer feed for fish and livestock, while aquatic plants serve as a dual food source and contribute to compost manure production for crop fields. Research on IMTA in Bangladesh was primarily experimented on finfish in freshwater ponds, with the absence of studies on IMTA in prawn farms. This necessitates conducting research at the prawn farmer level to understand the production of extractive aquatic mollusk and plants alongside prawn in the prawn-producing regions of southwestern Bangladesh.
... These ecological impacts are the overuse of natural resources due to aquacultural production, in which two of the biggest problems are the high use of freshwater [101] and water pollution because of untreated wastewater discharge into the environment [102], which causes a high impact on the ecosystem [103]. Inland aquacultural food production has a high freshwater consumption rate and a high dependency on nearby natural water resources [104], and it requires nearby water streams, lakes, or groundwater deposits [105]. ...
... Even if aquacultural food production is considered part of the Blue Revolution due to the high demand for food [122] and is important in achieving sustainable development goals [103], the lack of wastewater treatment puts the achievement of this goal at risk [123]. ...
The expansion of food production is becoming more important due to a rising world population, which is relying on food security on regional and local scales. Intensive food production systems exert a negative impact on the regional ecosystem because of agrochemical pollution and nutrient-rich water discharging into nearby rivers. Furthermore, these systems highly depend on regional water resources, causing water scarcity and soil erosion due to the overexploitation of natural resources in general. The objective of this article is to review the water usage in the two most water-intensive food production systems, agriculture and aquaculture, showing lacking areas like system management and climate change, which must be considered in the implementation of a sustainable water footprint. In addition, the review includes an analysis of the combination of both production systems in aquaponic food production and the possibilities of water saving. There are a variety of analyses related to water usage for crop and aquatic animal production, but in these analyses, there is a lack of information about system management in general, which includes cleaning processes, water substitution, pond removal, water evaporation, and, especially in aquaculture, the water usage required for industrially elaborated fish feed.
... These ecological impacts are the over usage of natural resources due to aquaculture production, being two of the biggest problems the high use of freshwater [101] and the water pollution because of untreated wastewater discharges into the environment [102] which is causing a high impact for the ecosystem [103]. Inland aquaculture food production has a high freshwater consumption rate and has a high dependency on nearby natural water resources [104] and requires nearby water streams, lakes or groundwater deposits [105]. ...
... Even if aquaculture food production is considered to be part of the Blue Revolution due to the high demand of food [123] and being important to achieve the sustainable development goals [103], the lack of wastewater treatment puts the achievement of this goal in risk [124]. ...
The expansion of food production is getting more important due to a rising world population, which is relying on food security on a regional and local scale. Intensive food production systems create a negative impact on the regional ecosystem because of agrochemical pollution and nutrient rich water discharges into nearby rivers. Furthermore, these systems are highly depending on regional water resources causing water scarcity and soil erosion due to the overexploitation of natural resources in general. The objective of this article is to review the water usage in the two most water intensive food production systems, agriculture and aquaculture showing lacking areas, like system management and climate change, which must be considered in the implementation of sustainable water footprint. In addition, the review includes an analysis if the combination of both production system into aquaponic food production and the possibilities of water saving. There are a variety of water footprint analyses for crop and aquatic animal production, but there is also a lack of information about the system management including irrigation systems, system cleaning processes, water substitution, pond removal, evaporation due to climate change and especially in aquaculture, the water footprint of industrial elaborated fish feed.
... Fishery resources are receiving increasing attention from a growing number of countries due to the challenges they face in the form of climate change, population growth, environmental degradation, land degradation, and the potential risks associated with genetically modified foods [1][2][3][4][5]. Since the growth of capture fisheries has become stagnant, fish stocks have become overexploited, and the global demand for protein continues to increase; aquaculture plays an important role in supplementing supplies of animal protein in various fishing industries [2]. ...
... Fishery resources are receiving increasing attention from a growing number of countries due to the challenges they face in the form of climate change, population growth, environmental degradation, land degradation, and the potential risks associated with genetically modified foods [1][2][3][4][5]. Since the growth of capture fisheries has become stagnant, fish stocks have become overexploited, and the global demand for protein continues to increase; aquaculture plays an important role in supplementing supplies of animal protein in various fishing industries [2]. Aquaculture production has grown rapidly over the past few decades [6]. ...
Coastal aquaculture has made an important contribution to global food security and the economic development of coastal zones in recent decades. However, it has also damaged these coastal zones’ ecosystems. Moreover, coastal aquaculture is poised to play a key role in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Consequently, extracting aquaculture has become crucial and valuable. However, due to the limitations of remote sensing image spatial resolution and traditional extraction methods, most research studies focus on aquaculture areas containing dikes rather than individually separable aquaculture ponds (ISAPs). This is not an accurate estimation of these aquaculture areas’ true size. In our study, we propose a rapid and effective object-based method of extracting ISAPs. We chose multi-scale segmentation to generate semantically meaningful image objects for various types of land cover, and then built a decision tree classifier according to the unique features of ISAPs. The results show that our method can remove small rivers and other easily confused features, which has thus far been difficult to accomplish with conventional methods. We obtained an overall precision value of 85.61% with a recall of 84.04%; compared to the support vector machine’s (SVM) overall precision value of 78.85% and recall rate of 61.21%, our method demonstrates greater accuracy and efficiency. We used this method to test the transferability of the algorithm to nearby areas, and the obtained accuracy exceeded 80%. The method proposed in this study could provide a readily available solution for the simple and efficient extracting of ISAPs and shows high spatiotemporal transferability.
... These energy inputs were computed by multiplying the quantity of inputs with their respective energy equivalent coefficients, as reported in literature (Table S2-S3). Then, the energy footprint (EF) was calculated as follows (Jiang et al., 2022): ...
... To assess the four sectors -food profitability, energy footprint, water footprint, and carbon footprint -hereafter referred as food-energy-water-carbon (FEWC), we computed a composite sustainability index based on the FEWC nexus framework as developed in recent studies (Hua et al., 2020;Jiang et al., 2022;Nhamo et al., 2020;Simpson et al., 2022), following steps below: ...
Agricultural sustainability is threatened by pressures from water scarcity, energy crises, escalating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and diminishing farm profitability. Practices that diversify crop rotations, retain crop residues, and incorporate cover crops have been widely studied for their impacts on soil organic carbon and crop production. However, their associated usage of natural resources and economic returns have been overlooked. Here, we employed a food-energy-water-carbon (FEWC) nexus framework to assess the sustainability of crop rotations plus various management strategies across three sub-regions of New South Wales (NSW) in Australia. We found that compared with residue burning and fallowing, residue retention and cover cropping contributed to GHG abatement, but the latter consumed more energy and water per hectare. The composite sustainability scores, calculated with the FEWC framework, suggested that legume-inclusive rotations were generally more sustainable. Furthermore, in northern NSW (with existing sorghum/wheat/chickpea/wheat rotation), residue retention with cover cropping was most suitable combination, while the use of residue retention with fallow yielded greater benefits in southern NSW (with existing wheat/field pea/wheat/canola rotation). Regional disparities in climate, soil, cropping systems, and on-farm costs prompted region-specific strategies to address the unbalanced distribution among FEWC domains. Our study provides assessments for identifying feasible management practices to advance agricultural sustainability.
... The optimum incorporation of water and drug mixture is directly proportional to the infected population. 34 If the infected fish do not take food it may not be useful for those fish and the process may become prophylactic only. ...
... Combinations of two or more sulpha drugs can act as synergistic agents, thus killing a wide range of bacteria. 34 ...
Antibiotic resistance is a global health concern. Strains of pathogenic microorganisms that have developed resistance to multiple antibiotics, such as MRSA, are extremely difficult to treat, and alternative methods for tackling pathogenic microorganisms are in demand. One potential target for new therapeutics is inhibition of quorum sensing: how microorganisms communicate and form biofilms in a density-dependent manner. Inhibiting this system via ‘quorum quenching’ (QQ) is a promising route to new pharmaceuticals and for controlling biofilm formation and growth. Quorum sensing also provides interesting possibilities in synthetic biology for producing novel products, biosensors, bioactive molecules, and so on.
This book covers the biology of quorum sensing and quenching, and potential sources of QQ enzymes and other inhibitors, as well as an overview of their mechanism and potential biotech applications. The book also covers the potential for new drug development from QQ, covering a range of related topics including protein engineering, imaging and computational studies, and integrated systems. This book is an ideal companion to researchers in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, particularly those interested in biofilm formation, quorum sensing, novel antimicrobial development, synthetic biology and enzymology.
... The conceptual framework guiding our empirical analysis ( Fig. 1) draws from the literature on the different dimensions of sustainable food systems (Béné et al., 2019). This literature considers food and nutrition security, economic performance, and environmental impacts as crucial dimensions of sustainable food systems, including of aquatic food systems (Karim et al., 2020;Dam Lam et al., 2022;Jiang et al., 2022;Shamsuddin et al., 2022). Some of these outcomes can be positive and reinforcing, e.g., the simultaneous achievement of higher productivity, profitability, and food security (Chan et al., 2019;Dam Lam et al., 2022). ...
... Some of these outcomes can be positive and reinforcing, e.g., the simultaneous achievement of higher productivity, profitability, and food security (Chan et al., 2019;Dam Lam et al., 2022). Other impacts can be negative such as the increased pressure on scarce water resources or increased emissions (Jiang et al., 2022;Crawford and Macleod, 2009). ...
The future demand for fish and other aquatic foods requires the sustainable intensification of related production systems. However, policy and investment decisions for the sustainable intensification of aquaculture systems are usually hindered by the lack of benchmarking data about their actual sustainability performance, often resulting in poorly developed and implemented interventions that ignore potential sustainability trade-offs. This is a reality in many of the leading aquaculture producers in the developing world like Egypt. In this study we analyzed farm-level data from 402 aquaculture producers in the Kafr El Sheikh governorate in Egypt, to characterize and benchmark the performance of tilapia production systems against key sustainability outcomes. For the analysis we used a combination of statistical tools such as ordinary least square regressions, simultaneous quantile regressions and propensity score matching. We focussed on how the production characteristics and practices of different tilapia production systems intersect with economic, food security, and environmental outcomes that cover multiple dimensions of sustainability. We found that differences in these production characteristics and practices were significantly associated with the sustainability performance of tilapia production systems. In particular, our results show that yields in monocultural systems (10,460.5 ton/ha) were significantly higher than in polyculture systems (8404.7 ton/ha). Furthermore, despite the generally positive economic, food security, and environmental outcomes of several of the studied systems, some trade-offs emerge both between and within these sustainability dimensions.
... Jiang et al. [30] formulated a food-energy-water-carbon (FEWC) index ranging from 0 to 100 to assess the sustainability of aquaculture globally. These results indicate that the sustainability of aquaculture is generally low. ...
Aquaculture is a rapidly growing industry that contributes to the growing global demand for food. Numerous studies have investigated the necessity of increasing food production while reducing its negative effects on the environment. Aquaculture involves the cultivation of aquatic animals such as fish, shrimp, and mollusks that require water for their growth and maintenance in various types of aquaculture operations, such as recirculated aquaculture systems (RASs), ponds, and sea cages. This study investigates mainly life cycle assessment (LCA) in relation to water consumption, the water footprint (WF) and water budgeting approaches in aquaculture. In addition, it contributes to the expansion of knowledge and understanding of the different methodologies used, production practices, types of water (freshwater, marine or brackish) and direct or indirect water consumption in intensive, semi-intensive and extensive types of aquaculture. Notably, this study focuses on water consumption and does not include water indices that account for all the water used in a system, regardless of whether it is returned to the sourced watershed and is therefore available for other uses. Approximately 15% of the reviewed studies focus on the fish processing stage of the production chain, which emphasizes the need for more research on this stage. The species of carp, tilapia, shrimp, and catfish are the most frequently studied aquatic animals in relation to water consumption in aquaculture. Research on water consumption patterns can contribute to the development of a more water-efficient aquaculture system that is essential for promoting sustainable practices.
... In recent years, the rapid development of aquaculture has attracted global attention, with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations emphasizing its contribution to the global food supply, particularly in developing countries [1][2][3][4]. This growth has created job opportunities and economic benefits; however, the swift expansion of aquaculture may also pose environmental risks, such as marine pollution, ecological damage, and eutrophication, disrupting the ecological balance in affected areas [5][6][7][8]. ...
Coastal aquaculture plays a crucial role in global food security and the economic development of coastal regions, but it also causes environmental degradation in coastal ecosystems. Therefore, the automation, accurate extraction, and monitoring of coastal aquaculture areas are crucial for the scientific management of coastal ecological zones. This study proposes a novel deep learning- and attention-based median adaptive fusion U-Net (MAFU-Net) procedure aimed at precisely extracting individually separable aquaculture ponds (ISAPs) from medium-resolution remote sensing imagery. Initially, this study analyzes the spectral differences between aquaculture ponds and interfering objects such as saltwater fields in four typical aquaculture areas along the coast of Liaoning Province, China. It innovatively introduces a difference index for saltwater field aquaculture zones (DIAS) and integrates this index as a new band into remote sensing imagery to increase the expressiveness of features. A median augmented adaptive fusion module (MEA-FM), which adaptively selects channel receptive fields at various scales, integrates the information between channels, and captures multiscale spatial information to achieve improved extraction accuracy, is subsequently designed. Experimental and comparative results reveal that the proposed MAFU-Net method achieves an F1 score of 90.67% and an intersection over union (IoU) of 83.93% on the CHN-LN4-ISAPS-9 dataset, outperforming advanced methods such as U-Net, DeepLabV3+, SegNet, PSPNet, SKNet, UPS-Net, and SegFormer. This study’s results provide accurate data support for the scientific management of aquaculture areas, and the proposed MAFU-Net method provides an effective method for semantic segmentation tasks based on medium-resolution remote sensing images.
... Lindfors, 2022). A shared feature is nonetheless that the rapid growth of the sector has come with substantial negative impacts on the natural environment, including pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and loss of biodiversity (Jiang, Bhattarai, Pahlow, & Xu, 2022;Naylor et al., 2021), to the point that "the production of environmental harms seems to be endemic to the production of domesticated fish in open pens on an industrial scale" (Rigby, Davis, Bavington, & Baird, 2017, 25). This quote explicitly reflects how the dominant production methods in terms of technological equipment (open pens), and the scale at which modern salmon farming occurs, are at the root of the challenge, and that neither industry actors nor regulators have so far been able to implement adequate responses. ...
... Embodied energy and other implicit resource-environmental elements related to fishery or the fishery trade have been briefly mentioned in existing studies [38][39][40]. Studies on resource-environmental elements based on fishery or fishery trade have focused on direct energy consumption in fisheries [41], carbon emissions and carbon neutrality [42,43], environmental footprints and carbon emissions from aquaculture [44][45][46], and the virtual water trade of aquatic products [47]. For example, Guzman-Luna et al. [44] measured the water, energy, and land footprints of tilapia in Mexico and found that tilapia had a much higher water footprint than other livestock, such as cattle, pigs, and poultry. ...
Fishery plays an important role in world trade; however, the embodied energy associated with fishery remains incompletely quantified. In this study, we applied the multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model and logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) approach to understand the evolution and drivers of embodied energy in the intermediate and final fishery trade between China and countries along the 21st century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) from 2006 to 2021. The findings are as follows: (1) Embodied energy in the intermediate fishery trade averaged 92.2% of embodied energy from the total fishery trade. China has gradually shifted from being a net exporter to a net importer of embodied energy in intermediate, final, and total fishery trade with countries along the MSR. (2) From a regional perspective, the embodied energy in China’s fishery trade with Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia comprises the majority of the embodied energy from China’s total fishery trade (82.0% on average annually). From a sectoral perspective, petroleum, chemical and non-metallic mineral products, and transport equipment were prominent in the embodied energy of China’s intermediate fishery trade (64.0% on average annually). (3) Economic output increases were the main contributors to the increasing embodied energy in all types of fishery trade in China. The improvement in energy efficiency effectively reduced the embodied energy in all types of fishery trade in China, but its negative driving force weakened in recent years owing to minor energy efficiency improvements. Understanding the embodied energy transactions behind the intermediate and final fishery trade with countries along the MSR can provide a theoretical reference for China to optimize its fishery trade strategy and save energy.
... Its dramatic expansion, however, has also raised a number of concerns and objections, particularly regarding negative environmental impacts and its overall level of sustainability (Jiang et al., 2022;Wilding et al., 2018;Weitzman et al., 2019;GESAMP, 1991GESAMP, , 2008, and lately also with neglecting animal welfare (Elder, 2014;Birch, 2017;Brown and Dorey, 2019;Mather, 2019;Ellwood, 2012; although different perspectives can be observed: Browman et al., 2019;Jacquet et al., 2019;Seibel et al., 2020). ...
Marine aquaculture has grown enormously in recent decades, and with it the competition for space suitable for aquaculture. These developments have limited the areas available for aquaculture and, in some cases, have become a barrier to expansion. In response, aquaculture operations have moved further away from the coast. This development has created a need for clearer and more robust approaches to more comprehensively describe and secure sites for aquaculture. This article reviews the law governing the siting of aquaculture operations. In particular, it assesses the role of the widely used term “offshore” in the Law of the Sea to see if there are any legal aspects that need to be considered in moving towards the use of more specific concepts. It also aims to inform scientific discussions and political and administrative processes on the law governing the identification, description, and siting of aquaculture operations. This will hopefully contribute to more sustainable and less conflicted long-term aquaculture development.
... Aquaculture is a millennial activity of great importance worldwide (FAO, 2021a), with a great potential to complement the animal protein demand in a population in continuous growth (Qutu, 2022). Thus, it is one of the sectors with the highest development within the food economy (Zhen, Kartik & Samir, 2012). ...
The shrimp and prawn aquaculture sector is a growing component of the global food supply. However, this ongoing growth can lead to environmental implications. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) enables the assessment of these consequences by providing environmental information about the entire value chain. Furthermore, LCA highlights the improvements in environmental performance. This study aims to analyze the literature on LCA of shrimp production at different locations to assess methodological approaches such as functional unit and system boundaries, inventory data collection, impact categories evaluated, and main findings. A literature review in Scopus databases is performed to achieve this aim. Among the reviewed studies, it is observed that the scope of most of them encompasses everything from hatchery to farm gate. Some cases include packaging and transport to the point of destination. The consumption and waste treatment stages have been included in only two cases. The most analyzed impact categories are climate change, eutrophication, and acidification. The critical spots identified are feed formulation and farm energy use. The shrimp aquaculture sector could enhance its environmental performance by incorporating raw materials that replace the consumption of fishmeal and soybean meal in feeds with more sustainable alternatives. The adequate adjustment of the feed conversion ratio could support mitigating the amount of sediment and unconsumed feed, thereby reducing nutrient concentration in discharges. Renewable energy sources could be employed to cover the on-farm demands.
... Specifically, Remote Sens. 2024, 16 China's aquaculture production accounted for approximately 60% of the world total until 2020 [3,4]. As the size of ponds has increased considerably, intensive aquaculture has caused serious destructive effects on local environments, such as the decrease in water quality, the decline in biodiversity, and the loss of services provided by aquatic ecosystems [5][6][7]. Therefore, understanding the expansion pattern of aquaculture ponds in inland lakes and its influences on local environments is of great importance to the healthy development of human-natural ecosystems. ...
Inland aquaculture ponds, as an important land use type, have brought great economic benefits to local people but at the same time have caused many environmental problems threatening regional ecology security. Therefore, understanding the spatiotemporal pattern of aquaculture ponds and its potential influence on water quality is vital for the sustainable development of inland lakes. In this study, based on Landsat5/8 images, three types of land features, namely spectral features, index features, and texture features, and five machine learning algorithms, namely random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), artificial neural network (ANN), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and Gaussian naive Bayes (GNB), were combined to identify aquaculture ponds and some other primary land use types around a typical inland lake of China. The results demonstrated that the XGBoost algorithm that integrated the three features performed the best among all groups of the five machine learning algorithms and the three features, with an overall accuracy of up to 96.15%. In particular, the texture features provided additional useful information besides the spectral features to allow more accurately separation of aquaculture ponds from other land use types and thus improve the land use mapping ability in complex inland lakes. Next, this study examined the tendency of aquaculture ponds and found a segmented increase mode, namely sharp increase during 1984–2003 and then slow elevation since 2003. Further positive correlation detected between the area of aquaculture ponds and the phytoplankton population dynamics suggest a likely influence of aquaculture activity on the lake water quality. This study provides an important scientific basis for the sustainable management and ecological protection of inland lakes.
... where S REC is the sustainability based on REC nexus. Uncoordinated indices may lead to the same S REC , so we introduce evenness to address this (He et al., 2024;Jiang et al., 2022). ...
... Aquaculture, a rapidly expanding protein production sector, currently contributes and caters to 20% of the global demand for total animal protein (Jiang et al. 2022). In order to ensure successful aquaculture activities, selecting a suitable site becomes paramount, and its significance cannot be overstated (Nayak et al. 2014;Ganie et al. 2023b). ...
Geographic information system (GIS) is an influential tool that integrates spatial and non-spatial data, facilitating efficient analysis, modelling, and decision-making processes. Its significance in coldwater fisheries development is critical, as it plays a crucial role in achieving anticipated advancements in the sector. The application areas of GIS in coldwater fisheries development are diverse and encompass resource and habitat mapping and monitoring, aquaculture site selection, water quality assessment, fish disease modelling, watershed and riparian management, and climate change impact assessment. Effective management and monitoring of these parameters are pivotal for the advancement of this sector, and the use of remote sensing and GIS tools can accelerate these processes. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of GIS in fisheries, discusses data acquisition methods for GIS, and presents detailed information on its applications in coldwater fisheries development. Additionally, it addresses the challenges the technology faces and outlines prospects. GIS enables effective planning, monitoring, and conservation efforts, ultimately contributing to the enhancement of coldwater fisheries. Moreover, harnessing the power of GIS empowers policymakers and fisheries managers to make informed decisions, implement sustainable practices, and safeguard the biodiversity and productivity of coldwater fisheries.
... The study showed that new nutritional methods are needed to prevent black skin syndrome and liver damage in the largemouth bass that are fed low-fishmeal diets. Using alternative sources of proteins not only reduces the environmental footprint of fish farming but also aligns with the circular economy principles, contributing to waste reduction and resource efficiency as shown in the study by Jiang et al. [32]. Aragao et al. have produced a comprehensive review of the impacts of alternative and novel dietary protein sources, focusing on insect meals, fish gut microbiota and health, stress and immune responses, disease resistance, and antioxidant capacity. ...
The European Union’s (EU) agricultural self-sufficiency is challenged by its reliance on imported plant proteins, particularly soy from the Americas, contributing to deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. Addressing the EU’s protein deficit, this study evaluates alternative protein sources for aquaculture, focusing on their nutritional value, elemental content, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Protein flours from gastropods (Helix pomatia, Arion lusitanicus, Arion vulgaris) and their hepatopancreas, along with plant-based proteins from food industry by-products (oilcakes, coffee grounds, spent brewer’s yeast), were analyzed. Results revealed that snail flour contained the highest protein content at 59.09%, significantly outperforming hepatopancreas flour at 42.26%. Plant-based proteins demonstrated substantial nutritional value, with coffee grounds flour exhibiting a remarkable protein content of 71.8% and spent brewer’s yeast flour at 57.9%. Elemental analysis indicated high levels of essential minerals such as magnesium in hepatopancreas flour (5719.10 mg/kg) and calcium in slug flour (48,640.11 mg/kg). However, cadmium levels in hepatopancreas flour (11.45 mg/kg) necessitate caution due to potential health risks. PAH concentrations were low across all samples, with the highest total PAH content observed in hepatopancreas flour at 0.0353 µg/kg, suggesting minimal risk of PAH-related toxicity. The analysis of plant-based protein sources, particularly oilcakes derived from sunflower, hemp, flax, and pumpkin seeds, revealed that these by-products not only exhibit high protein contents but present a promising avenue for enhancing the nutritional quality of feed. This study underscores the potential of utilizing gastropod and plant-based by-products as sustainable and nutritionally adequate alternatives to conventional feeds in aquaculture, contributing to the EU’s environmental sustainability goals.
... Therewithal, aquaculture has also been examined within the scope of ECF (Zhao et al., 2013). In the realm of investigation, the lens has often focused on aquaculture's relation with carbon dioxide emissions (MacLeod et al., 2020) and carbon footprint (Jiang et al., 2022). The consequences of socioeconomic factors on the aquaculture footprint have also been investigated (Clark et al., 2018). ...
The ecological footprint (ECF), which has been frequently examined recently, offers a comprehensive analysis of the environment and has started to be used in Turkey. However, although it is a significant area of study in the world, food production, that raise the ECF the most, has not been the subject of much research in Turkey. In the present analysis, food production’s impacts on the ECF in Turkey are analyzed with yearly statistics for the period 1961–2018. Within the frame of this analysis, both food production as a whole and agriculture, livestock, and aquaculture production, which are the components of food, were analyzed individually. In this context, four different models were constructed, and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag method was used to analyze. According to the outcomes of the analysis, food, agriculture, and livestock production raise the ECF while aquaculture production diminishes. The largest coefficient among the three sub-sectors belongs to the agriculture sector. In addition, while the use of fertilizers, agricultural land, GDP, population, and life expectancy at birth increases the ECF, the age dependency ratio decreases, and the effect of rural population differs in the models.
... Фактично основним засобом виробництва тут є штучно створені чи модифіковані людиною екосистеми, а тому за значного росту виробництва продукції аквакультури слід очікувати також значного впливу на довкілля. Екологічні проблеми розвитку аквакультури представлено в роботах Мавраганіса (Mavraganis et al., 2020), Янга (Jiang et al., 2022) та багатьох інших. Вітчизняними дослідниками потенціал аквакультури щодо захисту довкілля розкрито частково у працях провідних вчених (Vdovenko, 2011;Martseniuk & Martseniuk, 2012;Korzhov, 2023). ...
In this article the authors offer an in-depth analysis of the current state of hydroecosystems and the problems of their conservation. The key tasks relevant to aquaculture as a tool for resolving management problems are discussed in detail. The authors examine various approaches and methods used in relation to the eco-improvements of the industry under study, providing examples of positive impacts on biodiversity and sustainability of aquatic ecosystems. Aquaculture is a promising way of addressing food security issues and plays an important role in the functioning of ecological systems. Through integrated management, the desired results can be achieved, including the conservation of biodiversity, which will contribute to the sustainable functioning of organisms. Accordingly, it helps to reduce the levels of pressure on natural populations by regulating fisheries and thereby allowing natural ecosystems to maintain their balance. The practice of aquaculture involves the protection and preservation of natural habitats, such as wetlands and nesting sites for many species of birds. Such areas are critical for the reproduction of many aquatic species, contributing to the functioning of the ecosystem. Modern aquaculture systems include monitoring methods, as they can pose environmental threats and create environmental risks to the respective state of the hydroecosystem. Other important tasks include improving aquaculture waste management and improving water quality by removing excess organic matter and other particles using natural biofilters. Promising methods of aquaculture include the cultivation of algae that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and contribute to the development of green energy. Local community aquaculture reduces dependence on natural fisheries by providing jobs and alternative food sources. Aquaculture research can be used in ecosystem restoration projects. Understanding the interactions in aquaculture systems contributes to the knowledge of ecosystem dynamics and is the basis for management practices. The conclusions of the article emphasise the importance of aquaculture as a tool for achieving sustainable ecosystem development and provide practical recommendations for further research in this area. This approach allows us to highlight the multifaceted aspects of the problems and their relevance to the scientific community and practical application in natural resource management.
... The h-index, ranging from 1 to 11, quantifies research impact, with higher values indicating a more influential body of work. Between 2018 and the present, 73 articles were published, marking an expanded focus on aquaculture efficiency and productivity analysis for food security and economic growth (Jiang et al. 2022). (7), and Spain in Europe (6). ...
Photovoltaic (PV) aquaculture offers a promising solution for sustainable electricity generation for farm and grid utilization (SEG/FGU). This fusion of solar technology and aquaculture methods is crucial for sustainable food production and eco-friendly power and grid integration. However, there is a significant gap in research, with a lack of comprehensive studies that highlight current advancements, publication patterns, research focal points, key contributors, and future avenues for advancing FGU research. A bibliometric analysis of the SEG/FGU research based on Scopus data revealed a steady rise in publications due to environmental issues, research collaborations, and funding availability. China emerged as the top nation with the most articles published (18 articles and 240 citations) on SEG/FGU growth and development, with Alexander Golberg, Tel Aviv University (Israel), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) as prolific authors, institutions, and funders, respectively. China's supremacy has been attributed to the availability of funding from significant programs like NSFC. Three prominent research focal points emerged: the integration of solar energy, agriculture, and desalination; the progression of PV technology within the renewable energy sector; and the intersection of aquaculture and ecological stewardship. The current research focus is on enhancing efficiency, developing effective energy storage solutions, and expanding the scope of applications for agricultural practices. However, significant research voids persist in sustainable aquaculture applications, designing and integrating hybrid PV systems, and achieving scalability in PV technology.
... Aquaculture in freshwater environments around the world recent studies has analyzed the current state of freshwater aquaculture on a global and regional scale (Edwards 2015;Jiang et al. 2022). Freshwater aquaculture has played and continues to play a preeminent role since aquaculture became a key contributor to the food fish basket worldwide (Jia et al. 2018). ...
Globally there is already a lot of pressure on water resources because of climate change, economic development, as well as an increasing global populace. Many rivers originate in the mountains, where snowfall fluctuations and the global climate’s inherent unpredictability affect the hydrological processes. Climate change sensitivity has been recognized in recent years and would affect hydropower, such as humidity, cloudiness, and precipitation, that are considered; global warming emerges as one of the most important contributors to climate change. The Yangtze River supports rich biodiversity and provides important ecosystem services for human survival and development. In addition, climate changes, particularly short-term and long-term precipitation and temperature fluctuations, influence the snow regime and the hydrological development of river flow response at the basin and sub-basin scales. More precise this review focused to understand the hydropower potential, freshwater fisheries, and hydrological response of snow dynamics in snow-dominated basins.
... In fact, the GHGEs from aquaculture were estimated to be 10% of the agriculture emissions, mainly associated with the production of raw feed materials, and secondarily with transportation (Mbow et al., 2019). Nevertheless, production of the global aquaculture industry has a lot of room for sustainability improvement (for details see Jiang et al., 2022). ...
Recent shifts in the global dietary preferences have indicated the fast-growing choice for plant-based, or meat-reduced diets. Among the motivations for such choices, which are increasingly advocated by nations and environmental institutions, is the major concern with global environmental sustainability and impacts of food production systems. Incontestably, the animal food source industry is extremely diverse, and seafood production through the aquaculture value chain remains unfamiliar to key stakeholders possibly leading to an uncomprehensive view and often biased perception of the farming industry within the environmental context. Accordingly, I discuss the importance of seafood production systems, such as the fastest seafood production that is the aquaculture sector, to increase their focus on the sustainability arena with more substantial and effective improvements for sustainable production, and most importantly, concomitantly informing end consumers. I mention examples of types of sustainability efforts that can be implemented and highlight the urgency of actively informing customers about implemented practices.
... Marine ecosystems supply food needed to support a growing human population. At the same time, a large number of fisheries are stressed, and the sustainability of industrial-scale aquaculture practices are being questioned (Ahmed et al., 2019;Jiang et al., 2022). Furthermore, climate change is impacting species ranges and may affect pathogen occurrence in aquaculture and wild-caught systems . ...
International agreements recognize the importance of cooperative scientific research to conserve and promote sustainable development of a shared Atlantic Ocean. In 2022, the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance Declaration was signed. The All-Atlantic Declaration continues and extends relationships forged by the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation and the Belém Statement on Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Cooperation. These efforts are consistent with programs, actions, and aims of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. In preparation for implementation of the All-Atlantic Declaration, members of the Marine Microbiome Working Group and the Marine Biotechnology Initiative for the Atlantic under the Galway and Belém Statements respectively, joined forces to call for cooperation across the Atlantic to increase marine microbiome and biotechnology research to promote ocean health and a sustainable bioeconomy. This article reviews the goals of the marine microbiome and biotechnology initiatives under the Galway and Belém Statements and outlines an approach to implement those goals under the All-Atlantic Declaration through a Blue Biotech and Marine Microbiome (BBAMM) collaboration.
... Aquaculture makes a considerable contribution to food security, particularly in developing countries [1,2]. However, this industry has numerous challenges that must be overcome to ensure sustainable aquatic production in the future. ...
This study (60 days) was conducted to investigate the ability of diet enriched with Coriandrum sativum powder or its extract to protect Oreochromis niloticus health and survivability at suboptimal temperature (21 ℃). One hundred and twenty (33.14 ± 0.5 g) were divided into four groups; each group has three replicates.. The first control group fed on a basal diet. Second and third groups fed on diet enriched with 30 mg/kg coriander seed powder (CP) and coriander seed ethanolic extract (CE), respectively. The fourth group (OT) fed on diet enriched with 500 mg oxytetracycline/ kg diet. The results revealed that CE exhibited a considerable improvement in hematological parameters, hepatic-renal functions, antioxidant status, and immunological markers as well as remarkably increased resistance against Aer-omonas veronii. It could be concluded that feeding tilapia CE enriched diet at 30 mg/kg is a recommended strategy to enhance tilapia health and resistance to A. veronii infection reared at 21 ℃.
Aquaculture is one of the most rapidly expanding industries in the world. It plays a central role in global food production and serves as the primary source of protein for human consumption. To navigate and excel in this dynamic field, a deep understanding of the fundamental principles of aquaculture is essential to ensure long-term success and sustainability. This book chapter provides an overview that presents the essence of aquaculture through ten key pillars. From strategic site selection to careful feeding strategies, each pillar contributes to a holistic understanding and provides the foundation for success in this ever-evolving industry. The global perspective emphasizes aquaculture’s adaptability in different landscapes, from small pond systems to extensive and intensive methods. Despite its inherent challenges, aquaculture is emerging as a cornerstone in the global food security edifice, receiving support and cooperation from national and international organizations. In addition to its primary role in food production, aquaculture actively contributes to economic growth, job creation, and resource management. Adherence to ethical practices and implementing responsible policies are essential to avoid social conflict, with the “planet-first” approach at the forefront of decision-making. The harmonious interplay of these ten pillars forms the basis for successful and sustainable aquaculture that aligns with the overarching global goals of environmental sustainability, economic growth, and food security. This chapter serves as a guide for practitioners and emphasizes aquaculture’s pivotal role in achieving broader societal goals.
Global water footprint is a complex concept that is differentiated and measured in different ways based on sectors. These include the gray water footprint, blue water footprint (BWF), and green water footprint. The gray water footprint is a measure of the amount of water needed to dilute pollutants and wastewater generated in the production of goods and services. While the BWF measures the volume of surface and groundwater consumed in the production of goods and services, the green water footprint represents the volume of rainwater consumed in agricultural activities. Regions with higher water footprints, such as the United States, China, India, and Europe, often have a high BWF due to their intensive industrial and agricultural activities. Effective water management strategies must address both BWFs and green water footprints to ensure sustainable use of our water resources, which are under increasing pressure due to rising demand and declining availability. Effective management of the global water footprint, including BWFs, green, and gray water footprints, is crucial for promoting sustainable use of our freshwater resources. In this chapter, we are addressing the assessment of global water footprints, as well as the impacts of our economic activities on water resources to ensure their safety and availability for future generations through more sustainable approaches.
The breakthrough in super hybrid rice yield has significantly contributed to China's and global food security. However, the inherent conflict between high productivity and environmentally sustainable agriculture poses challenges. Issues like water scarcity, energy crises, escalating greenhouse gas emissions, and diminishing farm profitability all threaten agricultural sustainability. In response to these challenges, we applied a holistic food-carbon-nitrogen-water-energy-profit (FCNWEP) nexus framework to comprehensively evaluate sustainability of distinct crop management strategies across three sub-sites in central China. Field experiments were conducted in Hubei and Hunan Provinces from 2017 to 2021, with a widely adopted elite super hybrid rice (Y-liangyou900). Four crop management treatments were implemented: a control (CK, 0 kg N ha-1), conventional crop management (CCM, 210-250 kg N ha-1, 7:3 basal: mid-tiller fertilizer ratio), and two integrated crop management treatments (ICM1, 180-210 kg N ha-1, 5:2:3 basal: mid-tiller: panicle initiation fertilizer ratio; ICM2, 240-270 kg N ha-1, 5:2:2:1 basal: mid-tiller: panicle initiation: flowering fertilizer ratio). Grain yield, carbon footprint, nitrogen footprint, energy footprint, nitrogen use efficiency and economic benefits were among the assessed variables. Our results showed that significant yield variations were observed, with ICM2 consistently outperforming CCM and ICM1 across the three sites. In Jingzhou, Suizhou, and Changsha, ICM2's grain yield was 30.2%, 24.7%, and 13.3% higher than CCM, respectively. Additionally, net profits for ICM2 exceeded those of CCM and ICM1 by 31.8% and 115.2% in Jingzhou, 32.2% and 109.9% in Suizhou, and 15.4% and 34.0% in Changsha. Integrated crop managements, specifically ICM2, demonstrated improved nitrogen and energy use efficiency, resulting in reduced carbon, nitrogen, water, and energy footprints. Overall, composite sustainability scores, calculated using the FCNWEP framework, indicated that both ICM2 and ICM1 generally exhibited higher sustainability levels compared to CCM. This study offers valuable insights into practical management methodologies and provides recommendations for enhancing agricultural sustainability.
In the quest for sustainable, high-yield crop production, achieving the optimal balance between nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) stands as a pivotal goal. We carried out a 3-year field experiment to evaluate the impacts of the combined application of three N rates (90, 120,180 kg N ha-1) and three K rates (120, 160, 210 kg K2O ha-1) on rice yield, fertilizer use efficiency, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, global warming potential (GWP), GHG intensity (GHGI), and net ecosystem economic benefits (NEEB) in rice paddy. Our results showed that increasing K under the same N treatment proves beneficial for yield gains (average increase of 4.8%). Such beneficial effect is also reflected in different N treatments, evidenced by the comparable grain yields between N120 × K160 (9.1 t ha-1) and N180×K120 (9.2 t ha-1). Increasing K significantly enhanced N use efficiency (NUE) through the stimulation of NR, GS/GOGAT, and GDH enzyme activities. This enhancement, along with the strengthened radiation use efficiency (4.7%), contributed to an overall improvement in grain yield. Compared with N180×K120, both rice varieties, under N120×K160 treatment, showed higher NUE with a 47.6% increase in PFPN, 12.1% in NHI, 7.6% in NUEg and 9.5% in NUEb, respectively. Higher NUE also reduced GHGI and improved NEEB. Compared with N180 ×K120 treatment, the GWP and GHGI under N120×K160 treatment decreased by 32.7% and 31.0%, while the NEEB increased by $31 ha-1. The composite sustainability scores suggested that N120×K160 treatment was generally more sustainable compared with other treatments. These findings underscore the significance of optimizing N and K application ratios in rice paddy cultivation, not only for maximizing yields and nutrient use efficiency but also for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing economic sustainability, ultimately promoting a more environmentally and economically responsible approach to rice farming.
Fish ponds are reliable food supply in local scale. However, they have adverse environmental impacts due to discharging pollution to the surface waters. To quantify the sustainability of this industry with the perspective of environment-food nexus, the-state-of-the-art index of food environmental footprint (FEF) is used and calculated for trout ponds (TPs). For this purpose, an integrated method is developed for accounting the environmental impacts of TPs by including grey water footprint (GWF) in Recipe, a tool for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). GWF stands for the embedded water consumption and LCIA combines the potential health and ecological impacts. Here, water quality data of multiple pollutants, BOD, COD, TSS, NO2, NO3, NH4, TN, PO4, DO and Cu+2, in the influent and effluent of Iranian TPs was obtained by field experiments and discussed with data from 9 countries. Results showed that TSS and NH4 are critical pollutants and the average GWF is about 16 m3/kg. Moreover, human health impacts are relatively greater than ecological damages. Nevertheless, FEF is calculated 0.17 and verifies TP sustainability (< 1). Based on environment-food nexus perspective; it means that the positive value of food production dominates TPs’ negative environmental damages. In addition, this study reviewed the efficiency of constructed wetlands for low-strength wastewater treatment. Due to its potential on TSS and NH4 removal, this system can reduce the GWF and added environmental damages of TPs 85% and 58%, respectively. Consequently, FEF decreases to 0.023 showing the very sustainability (< 0.1) of TPs by wastewater treatment.
High‐intensity aquaculture may cause the aquatic animals to experience elevated stress levels, which in turn will increase their susceptibility to illness and result in substantial losses. Farmers frequently use chemical and antibiotic treatments for fish diseases, which have led to drug‐resistant and hazardous residues in farmed fish and the environment. Consequently, finding substitutes for chemicals and antibiotics is crucial for disease management in aquaculture. Terminalia catappa L. or commonly called Indian almond is well known for its medicinal properties and widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. T. catappa contains chemical compounds such as tannin and flavonoid that play an important role in antibacterial, anti‐allergy, anti‐inflammation, and anti‐cancer. Numerous studies have been conducted on leaves, bark, fruits, and seed of T. catappa for their applications, including medicinal, bioremediation (dye absorption), and aquaculture use. Much research can be found on the utilization of T. catappa leaves to improve fish well‐being, mostly in the ornamental fish industry. Extract of T. catappa has been found to improve fish survival, growth rate, inhibit bacterial infection, improve water quality, enhance fish colouration, and boost the immune response. Although T. catappa leaves have undergone substantial research, it has not been systematically described in connection to fish species used in aquaculture. This review will systematically discuss the biotoxicity of T. catappa evaluation of growth‐promoting properties, eggs and larviculture performance, and enhancement of fish resistance to various bacteria, fungi, and parasites. In addition, the article also highlights the future perspectives of using T. catappa to improve fish culture.
Diagnostic imaging techniques provide a new aspect of the ante‐mortem and post‐mortem diagnostics in fish medicine. Ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide more information about the internal organs and pathognomic lesions. The authors used diagnostic imaging techniques to evaluate and describe the neoplastic malformation in a 3‐year‐old female rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss ). The fish was examined with Siemens Somatom Definition AS + CT scanner and Siemens Biograph mMR scanner. The animal was lethargic and showed anorectic signs and muscular dystrophy. During the post‐mortem investigation, histopathology and immunohistochemistry were also performed allowing us to identify the neoplasms. The results showed a large soft tissue mass in the first mid‐intestine segment, which proved to be an adenocarcinoma. This subsequently led to digestion problems and absorption disorders. Immunohistochemically, neoplastic cells of carcinoma revealed E‐cadherin and pancytokeratin positivity. This is the first study to report the use of MRI and CT for studying gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma in rainbow trout.
Denizlerin sürdürülebilirliği, iklim değişikliği, kirlilik ve aşırı avlanma gibi nedenlerle ciddi tehdit altındadır. Bu durum balık popülasyonlarının hızla tükenerek ekosistemin tahribatına neden olmaktadır. Çalışmanın amacı, deniz ekosistemini olumsuz etkileyen avcılık yöntemlerini ve yetiştiricilik faaliyetlerini ortaya koyarak sürdürülebilirliğe olan etkilerini tespit etmektir. Çalışma sonucunda balıkçılık sektörünün doğaya birçok zararı olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Bunların başlıcaları açık sularda avcılığın neden olduğu aşırı avlanma ve denizlerde meydana gelen kirlenmedir. İç sularda ve kıyılarda yapılan yetiştiricilikten kaynaklı sorunların başlıcaları girdi artıklarından kaynaklı kirlilik, dip kısımlarda oksijen tüketiminin neden olduğu tahribat, ölü balık artıkları ve görsel kirliliktir. Günümüzde insan faktörünün yer aldığı faaliyetlerde, özellikle ticari kaygının ön planda olduğu yapılanmalar, doğayı ve ekosistemi tahribatta cömert olabilmektedir. Dolayısıyla politika yapıcıların, tüm dünya insanlarının ortak mirası olan denizlerin korunmasında sert ve ciddi önlemler almasında yarar görülmektedir.
Despite contributing to healthy diets for billions of people, aquatic foods are often undervalued as a nutritional solution because their diversity is often reduced to the protein and energy value of a single food type (‘seafood’ or ‘fish’)1–4. Here we create a cohesive model that unites terrestrial foods with nearly 3,000 taxa of aquatic foods to understand the future impact of aquatic foods on human nutrition. We project two plausible futures to 2030: a baseline scenario with moderate growth in aquatic animal-source food (AASF) production, and a high-production scenario with a 15-million-tonne increased supply of AASFs over the business-as-usual scenario in 2030, driven largely by investment and innovation in aquaculture production. By comparing changes in AASF consumption between the scenarios, we elucidate geographic and demographic vulnerabilities and estimate health impacts from diet-related causes. Globally, we find that a high-production scenario will decrease AASF prices by 26% and increase their consumption, thereby reducing the consumption of red and processed meats that can lead to diet-related non-communicable diseases5,6 while also preventing approximately 166 million cases of inadequate micronutrient intake. This finding provides a broad evidentiary basis for policy makers and development stakeholders to capitalize on the potential of aquatic foods to reduce food and nutrition insecurity and tackle malnutrition in all its forms. Data on the nutrient content of almost 3,000 aquatic animal-source foods is combined with a food-systems model to show that an increase in aquatic-food production could reduce the inadequate intake of most nutrients.
Fish and other aquatic foods (blue foods) present an opportunity for more sustainable diets1,2. Yet comprehensive comparison has been limited due to sparse inclusion of blue foods in environmental impact studies3,4 relative to the vast diversity of production5. Here we provide standardized estimates of greenhouse gas, nitrogen, phosphorus, freshwater and land stressors for species groups covering nearly three quarters of global production. We find that across all blue foods, farmed bivalves and seaweeds generate the lowest stressors. Capture fisheries predominantly generate greenhouse gas emissions, with small pelagic fishes generating lower emissions than all fed aquaculture, but flatfish and crustaceans generating the highest. Among farmed finfish and crustaceans, silver and bighead carps have the lowest greenhouse gas, nitrogen and phosphorus emissions, but highest water use, while farmed salmon and trout use the least land and water. Finally, we model intervention scenarios and find improving feed conversion ratios reduces stressors across all fed groups, increasing fish yield reduces land and water use by up to half, and optimizing gears reduces capture fishery emissions by more than half for some groups. Collectively, our analysis identifies high-performing blue foods, highlights opportunities to improve environmental performance, advances data-poor environmental assessments, and informs sustainable diets. A range of environmental stressors are estimated for farmed and wild capture blue foods, including bivalves, seaweed, crustaceans and finfish, with the potential to inform more sustainable diets.
The Olympic Games claim to be exemplars of sustainability, aiming to inspire sustainable futures around the world. Yet no systematic evaluation of their sustainability exists. We develop and apply a model with nine indicators to evaluate the sustainability of the 16 editions of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games between 1992 and 2020, representing a total cost of more than US$70 billion. Our model shows that the overall sustainability of the Olympic Games is medium and that it has declined over time. Salt Lake City 2002 was the most sustainable Olympic Games in this period, whereas Sochi 2014 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 were the least sustainable. No Olympics, however, score in the top category of our model. Three actions should make Olympic hosting more sustainable: first, greatly reducing the size of the event; second, rotating the Olympics among the same cities; third, enforcing independent sustainability standards.
The sustainability of aquaculture has been debated intensely since 2000, when a review on the net contribution of aquaculture to world fish supplies was published in Nature. This paper reviews the developments in global aquaculture from 1997 to 2017, incorporating all industry sub-sectors and highlighting the integration of aquaculture in the global food system. Inland aquaculture—especially in Asia—has contributed the most to global production volumes and food security. Major gains have also occurred in aquaculture feed efficiency and fish nutrition, lowering the fish-in–fish-out ratio for all fed species, although the dependence on marine ingredients persists and reliance on terrestrial ingredients has increased. The culture of both molluscs and seaweed is increasingly recognized for its ecosystem services; however, the quantification, valuation, and market development of these services remain rare. The potential for molluscs and seaweed to support global nutritional security is underexploited. Management of pathogens, parasites, and pests remains a sustainability challenge industry-wide, and the effects of climate change on aquaculture remain uncertain and difficult to validate. Pressure on the aquaculture industry to embrace comprehensive sustainability measures during this 20-year period have improved the governance, technology, siting, and management in many cases.
The future of the global ocean economy is currently envisioned as advancing towards a ‘blue economy’—socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically viable ocean industries. However, tensions exist within sustainable development approaches, arising from differing perspectives framed around natural capital or social equity. Here we show that there are stark differences in outlook on the capacity for establishing a blue economy, and on its potential outcomes, when social conditions and governance capacity—not just resource availability—are considered, and we highlight limits to establishing multiple overlapping industries. This is reflected by an analysis using a fuzzy logic model to integrate indicators from multiple disciplines and to evaluate their current capacity to contribute to establishing equitable, sustainable and viable ocean sectors consistent with a blue economy approach. We find that the key differences in the capacity of regions to achieve a blue economy are not due to available natural resources, but include factors such as national stability, corruption and infrastructure, which can be improved through targeted investments and cross-scale cooperation. Knowledge gaps can be addressed by integrating historical natural and social science information on the drivers and outcomes of resource use and management, thus identifying equitable pathways to establishing or transforming ocean sectors. Our results suggest that policymakers must engage researchers and stakeholders to promote evidence-based, collaborative planning that ensures that sectors are chosen carefully, that local benefits are prioritized, and that the blue economy delivers on its social, environmental and economic goals.
Irrigated agriculture has important implications for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. However, there is a lack of systematic and quantitative analyses of its impacts on food–energy–water–CO2 nexus. Here we studied impacts of irrigated agriculture on food–energy–water–CO2 nexus across food sending systems (the North China Plain (NCP)), food receiving systems (the rest of China) and spillover systems (Hubei Province, affected by interactions between sending and receiving systems), using life cycle assessment, model scenarios, and the framework of metacoupling (socioeconomic-environmental interactions within and across borders). Results indicated that food supply from the NCP promoted food sustainability in the rest of China, but the NCP consumed over four times more water than its total annual renewable water, with large variations in food–energy–water–CO2 nexus across counties. Although Hubei Province was seldom directly involved in the food trade, it experienced substantial losses in water and land due to the construction of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project which aims to alleviate water shortages in the NCP. This study suggests the need to understand impacts of agriculture on food–energy–water–CO2 nexus in other parts of the world to achieve global sustainability.
Recent literature on marine fish farming brands it as potentially compatible with sustainable resource use, conservation, and human nutrition goals, and aligns with the emerging policy discourse of ‘blue growth’. We advance a two-pronged critique. First, contemporary narratives tend to overstate marine finfish aquaculture’s potential to deliver food security and environmental sustainability. Second, they often align with efforts to enclose maritime space that could facilitate its allocation to extractive industries and conservation interests and exclude fishers. Policies and investments that seek to increase the availability and accessibility of affordable and sustainable farmed aquatic foods should focus on freshwater aquaculture.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize a holistic achievement instead of cherry-picking a few. However, no assessment has quantitatively considered the evenness among all 17 goals. Here, we propose a systematic method, which first integrates both the evenness and the overall status of all goals, to distinguish the ideal development pathways from the uneven ones and then revisit the development trajectory in China from 2000 to 2015. Our results suggest that, despite the remarkable progress, a bottleneck has been reached in China since 2013 due to the stagnant developments in some SDGs. However, many far-reaching policies in China have been targeting these deficiencies since then, providing a perspective on how a country approaches sustainable development by promoting evenness among all SDGs. Our results also indicate that regions with the slowest progress are those developed provinces, owing to the persistent uneven status of all goals. Our study demonstrates the importance of adopting evenness in assessing and guiding sustainable development.
In the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus, livestock has a dominant place. It is generally considered as water, energy and land-intensive. Aquaculture could provide additional animal protein and contribute to meeting the food demand. However, aquaculture requires natural resources and causes freshwater pollution due to aquafeed, fertilizer, and hormone use. This study assesses the sustainability of aquaculture using the indicators water footprint (WF), energy footprint (EF) and land footprint (LF), comparing results with livestock. It uses extensive, semi-intensive and intensive Tilapia aquaculture in Mexico as a case study including broodstock, breeding, fattening, processing, and transportation phases. Tilapia production in intensive aquaculture has the largest footprints. Blue WFs are smallest in semi-intensive systems; green WFs, EFs and LFs are smallest for extensive systems. For protein, tilapia from intensive systems has the largest WF (126 l/g protein), beef (51 l/g), pork (33 l/ g) and poultry (14 l/g) have smaller WFs. EFs per unit of protein or nutritional energy fall in the range of values for beef, poultry and pork. LFs of Tilapia (m 2 /kg) are larger than LFs of poultry but fall in the range of beef and pork. Per unit of nutritional energy EFs are similar to EFs for beef but larger than EFs of poultry and pork. From a FEW nexus perspective, it is not more sustainable to replace livestock with Tilapia. Tilapia requires more freshwater than beef, pork and poultry and pollutes larger amounts of water. For energy and land, Tilapia is not the better choice, because footprints are comparable.
The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus has, in the past decade, gained prominence as an approach for assessing integrated resource management. One challenge related to the WEF nexus approach is how to represent and monitor it since a system that includes water-, energy- and food-related parameters is complex. Not only are these resources quantified utilising different units, but they vary both spatially and temporally.This paper presents a national-level composite indicator that has been established for 170 countries, utilising the methodology developed by the Joint Research Centre: Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards. Following an assessment of 87 globally applicable water-, energy- and food-related indicators, 21 were selected to constitute the WEF Nexus Index. This index is made up of three equally weighted pillars representing the three constituent resource sectors, and six sub-pillars. A core element in the development of this index is equitable access to resources, which is characterised by each resource sector's ‘access’ sub-pillar. The WEF Nexus Index provides a quantitative perspective and offers a lens for evaluating trade-offs to be considered in the pursuit of sustainable development. To this end, it is intended for assessing national progress relating to integrated resource management as well as supporting decision making and policy development. The relevance and usefulness of the outcomes are demonstrated through an assessment of South Africa. The development of the WEF Nexus Index has demonstrated that no country is undertaking integrated resource management flawlessly. Every nation has the potential for improvement; which is evidenced by, for example, the top-ranking country for the index needing to reduce CO2 emissions. Neither the composite indicator nor the WEF nexus approach is, however, the panacea that will solve all the significant development or environmental challenges facing the global society. It can, however, contribute to integrated resource management and is complementary to the Sustainable Development Goals. It should ideally be utilised as an entry point into the underlying pillars, sub-pillars and indicators, in parallel with other qualitative and quantitative studies.
Global food demand is rising, and serious questions remain about whether supply can increase sustainably1. Land-based expansion is possible but may exacerbate climate change and biodiversity loss, and compromise the delivery of other ecosystem services2–6. As food from the sea represents only 17% of the current production of edible meat, we ask how much food we can expect the ocean to sustainably produce by 2050. Here we examine the main food-producing sectors in the ocean—wild fisheries, finfish mariculture and bivalve mariculture—to estimate ‘sustainable supply curves’ that account for ecological, economic, regulatory and technological constraints. We overlay these supply curves with demand scenarios to estimate future seafood production. We find that under our estimated demand shifts and supply scenarios (which account for policy reform and technology improvements), edible food from the sea could increase by 21–44 million tonnes by 2050, a 36–74% increase compared to current yields. This represents 12–25% of the estimated increase in all meat needed to feed 9.8 billion people by 2050. Increases in all three sectors are likely, but are most pronounced for mariculture. Whether these production potentials are realized sustainably will depend on factors such as policy reforms, technological innovation and the extent of future shifts in demand. Modelled supply curves show that, with policy reform and technological innovation, the production of food from the sea may increase sustainably, perhaps supplying 25% of the increase in demand for meat products by 2050.
Global aquaculture makes an important contribution to food security directly (by increasing food availability and accessibility) and indirectly (as a driver of economic development). In order to enable sustainable expansion of aquaculture, we need to understand aquaculture’s contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and how it can be mitigated. This study quantifies the global GHG emissions from aquaculture (excluding the farming of aquatic plants), with a focus on using modern, commercial feed formulations for the main species groups and geographic regions. Here we show that global aquaculture accounted for approximately 0.49% of anthropogenic GHG emissions in 2017, which is similar in magnitude to the emissions from sheep production. The modest emissions reflect the low emissions intensity of aquaculture, compared to terrestrial livestock (in particular cattle, sheep and goats), which is due largely to the absence of enteric CH4 in aquaculture, combined with the high fertility and low feed conversion ratios of finfish and shellfish.
With the global supply of forage fish at a plateau, fed aquaculture must continue to reduce dependence on fishmeal and oil in feeds to ensure sustainable sector growth. The use of novel aquaculture feed ingredients is growing, but their contributions to scalable and sustainable aquafeed solutions are unclear. Here, we show that global adoption of novel aquafeeds could substantially reduce aquaculture’s forage fish demand by 2030, maintaining feed efficiencies and omega-3 fatty acid profiles. We combine production data, scenario modelling and a decade of experimental data on forage fish replacement using microalgae, macroalgae, bacteria, yeast and insects to illustrate how reducing future fish oil demand, particularly in high-value species such as salmonids, will be key for the sustainability of fed aquaculture. However, considerable uncertainties remain surrounding novel feed efficacy across different life-cycle stages and taxa, and various social, environmental, economic and regulatory challenges will dictate their widespread use. Yet, we demonstrate how even limited adoption of novel feeds could aid sustainable aquaculture growth, which will become increasingly important for food security. Novel aquaculture feeds are rapidly developing, but their contributions to sustainable industry growth are unknown. Cottrell et al. model feed efficiency and fatty acid profiles, showing that replacing forage fish with novel feed ingredients could strengthen aquaculture’s role in global food security.
The missing link between cross-sectoral resource management and full-scale adoption of the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has been the lack of analytical tools that provide evidence for policy and decision-making. This study defined WEF nexus sustainability indicators, from where an analytical model was developed to manage WEF resources in an integrated manner using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The model established quantitative relationships among WEF sectors, simplifying the intricate interlinkages among resources, using South Africa as a case study. A spider graph was used to illustrate sector performance as related to others, whose management is viewed either as sustainable or unsustainable. The model was then applied to assess progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in South Africa. The estimated integrated indices of 0.155 and 0.203 for 2015 and 2018, respectively, classify South Africa's management of resources as marginally sustainable. The model is a decision support tool that highlights priority areas for intervention.
To address global challenges1–4, 193 countries have committed to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)5. Quantifying progress towards achieving the SDGs is essential to track global efforts towards sustainable development and guide policy development and implementation. However, systematic methods for assessing spatio-temporal progress towards achieving the SDGs are lacking. Here we develop and test systematic methods to quantify progress towards the 17 SDGs at national and subnational levels in China. Our analyses indicate that China’s SDG Index score (an aggregate score representing the overall performance towards achieving all 17 SDGs) increased at the national level from 2000 to 2015. Every province also increased its SDG Index score over this period. There were large spatio-temporal variations across regions. For example, eastern China had a higher SDG Index score than western China in the 2000s, and southern China had a higher SDG Index score than northern China in 2015. At the national level, the scores of 13 of the 17 SDGs improved over time, but the scores of four SDGs declined. This study suggests the need to track the spatio-temporal dynamics of progress towards SDGs at the global level and in other nations. Systematic methods for evaluating progress towards the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are developed and tested using 119 indicators at China’s national and subnational levels during 2000–2015, showing improvement overall.
Global aquaculture makes an important contribution to food security directly (by increasing food availability and accessibility) and indirectly (as a driver of economic development). In order to enable sustainable expansion of aquaculture, we need to understand aquaculture’s contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and how it can be mitigated. This study quantifies the global GHG emissions from aquaculture (excluding farming of aquatic plants) and explains how cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) could be used to appraise GHG mitigation measures. Cost-effective mitigation of GHG from aquaculture can make a direct contribution to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 13 (Climate Action), while supporting food security (Goal 2: Zero Hunger), and economic development (Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth).
Aquaculture accounted for approximately 0.45 percent of global anthropogenic GHG emissions in 2013, which is similar in magnitude to the emissions from sheep production. The modest emissions reflect the low emissions intensity of aquaculture, compared to terrestrial livestock (in particular cattle, sheep and goats), which is due largely to the absence of enteric CH4 in aquaculture, combined with the high fertility and low feed conversion ratios of finfish and shellfish. However, the low emissions from aquaculture should not be grounds for complacency. Aquaculture production is increasing rapidly, and emissions arising from post- farm activities, which are not included in the 0.45 percent, could increase the emissions intensity of some supply chains significantly. Furthermore, aquaculture can have important non-GHG impacts on, for example, water quality and marine biodiversity. It is therefore important to continue to improve the efficiency of global aquaculture to offset increases in production so that it can continue to make an important contribution to food security. Fortunately, the relatively immature nature of the sector (compared to agriculture) means that there is great scope to improve resource efficiency through technical innovation. CEA can be used to help identify the most cost-effective efficiency improvements. In this technical paper we explain CEA and provide an example illustrating how it could be applied to tilapia production, and provide some guidance on how to interpret the results of CEA.
The food sector is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, contributing 10–32% of global anthropogenic sources. Compared with land-based food production systems, relatively little is known about the climate impact of seafood products. Previous studies have placed an emphasis on fishing activities, overlooking the contribution of the processing phase in the seafood supply chain. Furthermore, other studies have ignored short-lived climate forcing pollutants which can be particularly large for ship fuels. To address these critical knowledge gaps, we conducted a carbon footprint analysis of seafood products from Alaska pollock, one of the world’s largest fisheries. A holistic assessment was made including all
components in the supply chain from fishing through retail display case, including a broad suite of climate forcing pollutants (well-mixed greenhouse gases, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, black carbon and
organic carbon), for domestic and top importers. We found that in some instances the processing phase contributed nearly twice the climate impact as the fishing phase of the seafood supply chain. For highly fuel-efficient fisheries, such as the Alaska pollock catcher-processor fleet, including the processing phase of the seafood supply chain is essential. Furthermore, the contribution from cooling emissions (sulfur and nitrogen oxides, and organic carbon) offsets a significant portion of the climate forcing from warming emissions. The estimates that include only greenhouse gases are as much as 2.6 times higher than the cases that include short-lived climate forcing pollutants. This study also advances our understanding of the climate impact of seafood distribution with products for the domestic retail market having a climate impact that is as much as 1.6 times higher than export products that undergo transoceanic shipping. A full
accounting of the supply chain and of the impact of the pollutants emitted by food production systems is important for climate change mitigation strategies in the near-term.
China is the world's largest capture fisheries and aquaculture producer. Over recent decades, China's domestic marine catch composition has changed markedly, from large volumes of a few high‐valued food species to multiple, small, low‐valued, species, a significant proportion of which is primarily used as animal, especially fish, feed. Despite the growing volume and economic importance of the feed catches, their species composition, catch volumes and socio‐environmental impacts are all poorly understood. Based on a nationwide survey of >800 fishing vessels, and the identification and measurement of >12,000 fish and invertebrate individuals, the present study provides an overview of the feed component of China's domestic marine catch, by volumes, species and sizes, and found it to be substantial and biologically unsustainable. Half of the trawler catch (3 million metric tons, mmt), or 35% of the total catch (4.6 mmt) in China's exclusive economic zone, are now comprised of low‐valued “feed‐grade fish”. The present study identified 218 fish species, 50 crustaceans and five cephalopods, and of these, 102 fish species were food species with 89% individuals in their juvenile size ranges. Feed‐grade fish were mainly used as aquaculture feed directly, or indirectly, through the feed industry after reduction to fishmeal and fish oil. The unparalleled scale and poor fisheries resource condition of China's domestic marine fisheries, in parallel with severe overfishing of juveniles, creates a demand for fundamental changes to fishery management practices, including a significant reduction of fishing effort to ensure productivity and ecosystem resilience.
Undernutrition, obesity, climate change, and freshwater depletion share food and agricultural systems as an underlying driver. Efforts to more closely align dietary patterns with sustainability and health goals could be better informed with data covering the spectrum of countries characterized by over- and undernutrition. Here, we model the greenhouse gas (GHG) and water footprints of nine increasingly plant-forward diets, aligned with criteria for a healthy diet, specific to 140 countries. Results varied widely by country due to differences in: nutritional adjustments, baseline consumption patterns from which modeled diets were derived, import patterns, and the GHG- and water-intensities of foods by country of origin. Relative to exclusively plant-based (vegan) diets, diets comprised of plant foods with modest amounts of low-food chain animals (i.e., forage fish, bivalve mollusks, insects) had comparably small GHG and water footprints. In 95 percent of countries, diets that only included animal products for one meal per day were less GHG-intensive than lacto-ovo vegetarian diets (in which terrestrial and aquatic meats were eliminated entirely) in part due to the GHG-intensity of dairy foods. The relatively optimal choices among modeled diets otherwise varied across countries, in part due to contributions from deforestation (e.g., for feed production and grazing lands) and highly freshwater-intensive forms of aquaculture. Globally, modest plant-forward shifts (e.g., to low red meat diets) were offset by modeled increases in protein and caloric intake among undernourished populations, resulting in net increases in GHG and water footprints. These and other findings highlight the importance of trade, culture, and nutrition in diet footprint analyses. The country-specific results presented here could provide nutritionally-viable pathways for high-meat consuming countries as well as transitioning countries that might otherwise adopt the Western dietary pattern.
Hydroponics initially developed in arid regions in response to freshwater shortages, while in areas with poor soil, it was viewed as an opportunity to increase productivity with fewer fertilizer inputs. In the 1950s, recirculating aquaculture also emerged in response to similar water limitations in arid regions in order to make better use of available water resources and better contain wastes. However, disposal of sludge from such systems remained problematic, thus leading to the advent of aquaponics, wherein the recycling of nutrients produced by fish as fertilizer for plants proved to be an innovative solution to waste discharge that also had economic advantages by producing a second marketable product. Aquaponics was also shown to be an adaptable and cost-effective technology given that farms could be situated in areas that are otherwise unsuitable for agriculture, for instance, on rooftops and on unused, derelict factory sites. A wide range of cost savings could be achieved through strategic placement of aquaponics sites to reduce land acquisition costs, and by also allowing farming closer to suburban and urban areas, thus reducing transportation costs to markets and hence also the fossil fuel and CO2 footprints of production.
Fisheries capture has plateaued, creating ever-greater reliance on aquaculture to feed growing populations. Aquaculture volumes now exceed those of capture fisheries globally1,2, with China dominating production through major land-use change; more than half of Chinese freshwater aquaculture systems have been converted from paddy fields1,3. However, the greenhouse gas implications of this expansion have yet
to be effectively quantified. Here, we measure year-round methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from paddy fields and new, extensively
managed crab aquaculture ponds. The conversion increased associated global warming potentials from 8.15 ± 0.43 to 28.0 ± 4.1 MgCO2eq ha−1, primarily due to increased CH4
emissions. After compiling a worldwide database of different freshwater aquaculture systems, the top 21 producers were estimated to release 6.04 ± 1.17 TgCH4 and 36.7 ± 6.1 GgN2O in 2014. We found that 80.3% of the total CH4 emitted originated in shallow earthen aquaculture systems, with far lower emissions from intensified systems with continuous aeration4. We therefore propose that greater adoption of aerated systems is urgently required to address globally significant rises in CH4 emissions from the conversion of paddy fields to aquaculture.
Many global challenges, though interconnected, have been addressed singly, at times reducing one problem while exacerbating others. Nexus approaches simultaneously examine interactions among multiple sectors. Recent quantitative studies have revealed that nexus approaches can uncover synergies and detect trade-offs among sectors. If well implemented, nexus approaches have the potential to reduce negative surprises and promote integrated planning, management and governance. However, application and implementation of nexus approaches are in their infancy. No studies have explicitly quantified the contributions of nexus approaches to progress toward meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. To further implement nexus approaches and realize their potential, we propose a systematic procedure and provide perspectives on future directions. These include expanding nexus frameworks that consider interactions among more sectors, across scales, between adjacent and distant places, and linkages with Sustainable Development Goals; incorporating overlooked drivers and regions; diversifying nexus toolboxes; and making these strategies central in policy-making and governance for integrated Sustainable Development Goal implementation.
Global aquaculture production has increased rapidly over the past decades; however, aquaculture systems have become more energy intensive, mainly relying on non-renewable sources. Increasing energy prices and energy cost fluctuation could make aquaculture industry vulnerable, and eventually, it would reduce food security at the local, regional, and global level. Therefore, understanding and mitigating the energy use in aquaculture is important for the sector to grow in a sustainable manner. This study aims to understand the energy intensity of various forms of aquaculture. The energy intensity of aquaculture was investigated using a modeling approach with consideration of culture species, culture system intensity, culture technology, and climatic condition. The established energy intensity model was used to estimate the energy use of current global aquaculture, and to explore possible strategies for the expansion of future global aquaculture in an energy efficient way with various growth and climate change scenarios. Results showed that a significant amount of energy use (about 100 TJ/yr) could be saved with a selective extensification of aquaculture (i.e., the increase in extensive culture systems in developing countries for all trophic levels of species, along with the increase in intensive marine-based culture systems in developed countries only for low trophic level species) compared to the baseline. Also, as warm climates are more dominant in major aquaculture producing countries by 2025, the energy intensity of future global aquaculture would be reduced.
Water availability is a major factor constraining humanity's ability to meet the future food and energy needs of a growing and increasingly affluent human population. Water plays an important role in the production of energy, including renewable energy sources and the extraction of unconventional fossil fuels that are expected to become important players in future energy security. The emergent competition for water between the food and energy systems is increasingly recognized in the concept of the “food‐energy‐water nexus.” The nexus between food and water is made even more complex by the globalization of agriculture and rapid growth in food trade, which results in a massive virtual transfer of water among regions and plays an important role in the food and water security of some regions. This review explores multiple components of the food‐energy‐water nexus and highlights possible approaches that could be used to meet food and energy security with the limited renewable water resources of the planet. Despite clear tensions inherent in meeting the growing and changing demand for food and energy in the 21st century, the inherent linkages among food, water, and energy systems can offer an opportunity for synergistic strategies aimed at resilient food, water, and energy security, such as the circular economy.
Food production is responsible for a quarter of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. Marine fisheries are typically excluded from global assessments of GHGs or are generalized based on a limited number of case studies. Here we quantify fuel inputs and GHG emissions for the global fishing fleet from 1990-2011 and compare emissions from fisheries to those from agriculture and livestock production. We estimate that fisheries consumed 40 billion litres of fuel in 2011 and generated a total of 179 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent GHGs (4% of global food production). Emissions from the global fishing industry grew by 28% between 1990 and 2011, with little coinciding increase in production (average emissions per tonne landed grew by 21%). Growth in emissions was driven primarily by increased harvests from fuel-intensive crustacean fisheries. The environmental benefit of low-carbon fisheries could be further realized if a greater proportion of landings were directed to human consumption rather than industrial uses.
China’s fast-paced socio-economic transformation has been accompanied by shifting diets towards higher shares of non-starchy foods. Such trends change the dietary health risks but also potentially contribute to growing environmental problems, and thus necessitate an understanding of the links between nutritional quality and environmental impacts of Chinese diets. We assess the nutritional quality of over 21,500 individuals living in nine provinces during the 1997–2011 period and quantify their environmental footprints. Our study shows that the greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and land appropriation of the average diet increased, driven by consumption of meat, cooking oil and other non-starchy foods. While increasing meat and oil consumption has lead to an increased burden on the environment and a reduction in the nutritional quality of Chinese diets, increases in other non-starchy foods has improved nutritional quality but with increased negative environmental consequences. Our findings identify trade-offs and synergies emerging from analysing the nutrition–environment nexus, and indicate challenges as well as opportunities in reducing environmental impacts while eliminating malnutrition. An analysis of dietary changes in China and their environmental impact between 1997 and 2011 reveals distinct trends between rural and urban areas, and an overall increase in greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and land appropriation, driven mainly by the increase of meat consumption.
