Aquaculture Sector

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“History-The Shutters of Memory.”

“It is distant enough that perhaps we can attend to the examples without too much emotion, and yet close enough to be useful.”

The exact origin of aquaponics systems is still a topic of debate today. While the Aztecs' chinampas in Mexico are considered a foundational example of modern aquaponics, the people of Eastern Asia, particularly in regions like South China, Indonesia, and Thailand, are also believed to have been among the earliest practitioners of this method.

Environmental legislation consists of laws and regulations that address issues related to air quality, water quality, wilderness preservation, endangered wildlife, and other environmental factors. This legislation ensures that environmental considerations are taken into account in the decisions made by federal agencies.

In the mid-1980s, two researchers, McMurtry and Sanderson, developed the first closed-loop aquaponics system. They used sand as a bio-filter to clean the water from a fish tank and irrigate crops.

• Law of the Sea: Law of the sea is a body of international law governing the rights and duties of states in maritime environments.[1] It concerns matters such as navigational rights, sea mineral claims, and coastal waters jurisdiction.
• 10 interesting facts about the earths oceans.

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Law of the sea (or ocean law) is a body of international law governing the rights and duties of states in maritime environments.[1]

It concerns matters such as navigational rights, sea mineral claims, and coastal waters jurisdiction. The connotation of ocean law is somewhat broader, but the law of the sea (anchored in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is so comprehensive that it covers all areas of ocean law as well (e.g., marine environmental law, maritime law).

Ever thought about the real costs ?

The environmental costs

The environmental cost (nexus) of plastic water bottles is perhaps even more concerning.

“Vagaries (Effects on the environment) of continued green–house gas emissions discharged into the earth's atmospheric environment and the huge increase in greenhouse gas emissions in producing, transporting and consuming fracked gas – are projected to cause further warming and increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive, and irreversible effects on every continent.

The real costs of a plastic bottle

Plastic bottles take hundreds of years to break down in landfills, and the production and disposal of these bottles contribute significantly to plastic pollution. In fact, it is estimated that only a small percentage of plastic water bottles are recycled, with the majority ending up in landfills or our oceans.

The impact of plastic pollution on wildlife and ecosystems is well documented and can be devastating.

If we don’t do anything about the plastic soup we’re currently in, there will soon be more plastic than fish in our oceans. Just imagine swimming in the sea together with Coca-Cola bottles, instead of marine life.

The Ocean

The ocean covers more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, yet capture fisheries and a small marine aquaculture sector produce only two percent of the global food supply.

Sea rewilding aims to create conditions in which the various marine ecosystems are able to recover from prior damage and stressors and begin to thrive independently over time. Activities to facilitate this process can include species reintroduction and replenishing, i.e. of oysters, kelp, and seagrass beds.

Sea rewilding aids in helping the climate crisis by capturing carbon dioxide, supports local economies with eco-tourism, reverse biodiversity loss, improve health and well being by providing restored natural landscapes, clean air, water, and healthy soil. [8]

Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture[1], also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lotus).

Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater, brackish water and saltwater populations under controlled or semi-natural conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the harvesting of wild fish.[2]

Aquaculture is also a practice used for restoring and rehabilitating marine and freshwater ecosystems. [3]

Researchers harvest acid from seawater to feed beneficial algae

From the air you breathe to the seafood you eat, marine algae have some involvement—they consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen through photosynthesis and feed fish and shellfish. One day, marine algae could also be used to make widely available eco-friendly plastics or fuel.

Studies of owing algae for commercial purposes—called aquaculture—often requires a lot of carbon dioxide to speed up growth. That carbon dioxide is usually sourced from natural gas refineries, where it is compressed into tanks and transported for injection into ponds used to grow algae. Processing and transporting that carbon dioxide creates enough emissions to cancel out any benefit of carbon dioxide removal from algae cultivation.

Mariculture, commonly known as marine farming, is aquaculture in seawater habitats and lagoons, as opposed to freshwater aquaculture. Pisciculture is a type of aquaculture that consists of fish farming to obtain fish products as food.

Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of aquatic animals such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and so on, in natural or pseudo-natural environments. A facility that releases juvenile fish into the wild for recreational fishing or to supplement a species' natural numbers is generally referred to as a fish hatchery. Worldwide, the most important fish species produced in fish farming are carp, catfish, salmon and tilapia.[1]

Aquaponics, Hydroponics, and Aquaculture

Aquaculture, often referred to as fish farming, involves the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of fish, shellfish, algae, and other organisms in various water environments. This sector is crucial for meeting the growing demand for seafood and supporting sustainable food production.

Aquaponics, hydroponics, and aquaculture are developing methods of food production.[1] Hydroponics is the growing of plants without soil, and aquaculture is the farming of fish and other aquatic animals.[2] Aquaponics is the symbiotic combination of hydroponics and conventional aquaculture, where the hydroponics helps filter the water for fish, and the aquaculture provides fertilizer for plants.[3]

There are many benefits of aquaponics, such as saving water, reducing chemical use, increasing crop yield, and creating a closed-loop system that minimizes waste and environmental impact.

Aquaponics is a food production system that couples aquaculture with hydroponics whereby the nutrient-rich aquaculture water is fed to hydroponically grown plants.

Aquaculture can also be defined as (...)

Seaweed Farming: A Sustainable Aquaculture

One of the great marine marvels of the world is the kelp forests. These are almost like the rainforests of the coasts and provide a rich environment for species to thrive. Everyone knows about the lush rainforests of the Amazon, but the oceans also have their equivalent of forests too.

The architecture of a kelp forest ecosystem is based on its physical structure, which influences the associated species that define its community structure. Structurally, the ecosystem includes three guilds of kelp and two guilds occupied by other algae:[10]

Kelp forests can be seen along much of the west coast of North America. Kelp are large brown algae that live in cool, relatively shallow waters close to the shore. They grow in dense groupings much like a forest on land. These underwater towers of kelp provide food and shelter for thousands of fish, invertebrates, and marine mammal species.

• Kelp forests are underwater ecosystems that provide a rich environment for marine life to thrive, similar to rainforests.
• Seaweed farming is the cultivation of marine algae for food, medicine, and other products.
• Great kelp diving destinations include California, New Zealand, England, British Columbia, Baja California, and South Africa.
• San Diego is a popular location for kelp forest diving, with specialized charter dive boats offering guided dives in La Jolla Cove for around $220.

Kelp forests are sometimes compared to coral reefs and mangrove forests, although the systems do not overlap. They all provide similar underwater habitats for hundreds or even thousands of species.

What Is Vertical Farming?

What if you could walk into your grocery store in February to buy fresh tomatoes, strawberries, herbs, and leafy greens - all fresh and locally grown in the middle of winter? With vertical farming on the rise, that might just become a reality.

Vertical farming is pretty much exactly what it sounds like:

• A horticultural method of farming on vertical surfaces rather than horizontal ones. Vertical farms can be built in many indoor spaces, including warehouses, skyscrapers, shipping containers, old industrial buildings and factories.
• This highly precise method of farming utilizes LED lighting and smart growing systems to control factors like temperature, light, humidity, water, etc. in an enclosed space.
• It often employs other methods of farming as well, like hydroponics or concepts from other large-scale controlled agriculture operations.

The global population is growing by 1% every year, and is projected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050. Vertical farming could provide a solution to cultivating enough food.

Vertical farms can be built in many unconventional indoor spaces, including warehouses, skyscrapers, shipping containers, old industrial buildings and factories.Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) regulates temperature, humidity, lighting, water, nutrition and even carbon dioxide to create a perfect indoor microclimate for growing.

Most vertical farms use hydroponic, aquaponic or aeroponic growing methods. Vertical farms use 95% less water and 99% less land than traditional farmland to create the same amount of food. Without pests or weeds threatening the success of crops, vertical farms are often 100% organic, using no pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers.

High value, fast-growing crops like herbs, leafy greens, tomatoes and strawberries are among the most common crops grown on vertical farms.

High energy usage, limited crop variety and the highly technical nature of vertical farming are some of the drawbacks of this method.

This article originally appeared on EcoWatch and was syndicated by MediaFeed.