Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture of red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) and sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra): Assessing bioremediation and life-cycle impacts

TLDR: The methodology defined here can be a powerful tool to predict the magnitude of environmental benefits that can be expected from new and complex production systems and to show potential impact transfer between spatial scales.

About: This article is published in Aquaculture.The article was published on 2020-02-01 and is currently open access. It has received 40 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture & Holothuria scabra.

Figures

Figure 1. Processes within the boundaries of (a) the monoculture system and (b) the integrated multi-trophic aquaculture system. Environmental impacts are calculated for whole-farm

Figure 3. Mean LCA impacts of the fish monoculture and fish/sea cucumber integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems (scaled to the largest value per category) expressed per kg of edible protein and per t of fresh aquatic product. Error bars represent 1 standard error calculated from 1000 Monte Carlo simulations. CC: Climate change; AC: Acidification

Figure 2. Annual flux of biomass and waste in the sea cucumber system and its bioremediation performances when co-cultured beneath finfish cages in an integrated multitrophic aquaculture system. Figures are given for the simulated growth of an initial population of 5 000 individuals cultured on an area of 1 372 m². DW = dry weight, WW = wet weight

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What are the contributions in "Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture of red drum (sciaenops ocellatus) and sea cucumber (holothuria scabra): assessing bioremediation and life-cycle impacts" ?

In this paper, the authors evaluated the environmental sustainability of aquaculture using a holistic and multi-scale framework, where organisms of different trophic levels are co-cultured on the same farm.