The AquaNet integrated multi-trophic aquaculture project: rationale of the project and development of kelp cultivation as the inorganic extractive component of the system.

摘要

The AquaNet project started from the realization that in regions where monospecific aquaculture activities are highly geographically concentrated, or located in suboptimal sites, nutrient enrichment may be locally significant. Contrary to common belief, the long-term solution to nutrification is not dilution, even in regions of exceptional tidal and apparent flushing regimes like the Bay of Fundy, but conversion by biological means. By integrating fed aquaculture of finfish with inorganic extractive aquaculture of seaweeds and organic extractive aquaculture of shellfish, integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) allows the wastes of one resource user to become a resource (fertilizer or food) for the others. Food and energy are converted into other crops of commercial value, while biomitigation takes place. The interdisciplinary aspects of the AquaNet IMTA project are described, as well as the 3 phases of its development. The different steps in the cultivation of the kelp Laminaria saccharina, as the inorganic extractive component of an IMTA system, have been developed and improved. The production of kelp has been 46% greater at an IMTA site than at a reference site 1250 m away that is not in proximity to any Atlantic salmon aquaculture site. The future directions for the IMTA inorganic extractive component are also discussed..