FarmHub
3.4 Animal Welfare Issues
3.4.1 Introduction During the last decade, fish welfare has attracted a lot of attention, and this has led to the aquaculture industry incorporating a number of husbandry practices and technologies specifically developed to improve this aspect. The neocortex, which in humans is an important part of the neural mechanism that generates the subjective experience of suffering, is lacking in fish and non-mammalian animals, and it has been argued that its absence in fish indicates that fish cannot suffer.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems3.3 Developments in RAS
The last few years have seen an increase in the number and sizes of recirculating aquaculture farms, especially in Europe. With the increase in acceptance of the technology, improvements over traditional engineering approaches, innovations and new technical challenges keep emerging. The following section describes the key design and engineering trends and new challenges that recirculating aquaculture technology is facing. 3.3.1 Main Flow Oxygenation The control of dissolved oxygen in modern RAS aims to increase the efficiency of oxygen transfer and decrease the energy requirements of this process.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems3.2 Review of Water Quality Control in RAS
RAS are complex aquatic production systems that involve a range of physical, chemical and biological interactions (Timmons and Ebeling 2010). Understanding these interactions and the relationships between the fish in the system and the equipment used is crucial to predict any changes in water quality and system performance. There are more than 40 water quality parameters than can be used to determine water quality in aquaculture (Timmons and Ebeling 2010). Of these, only a few (as described in Sects.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems3.1 Introduction
Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) describe intensive fish production systems which use a series of water treatment steps to depurate the fish-rearing water and facilitate its reuse. RAS will generally include (1) devices to remove solid particles from the water which are composed of fish faeces, uneaten feed and bacterial flocs (Chen et al. 1994; Couturier et al. 2009), (2) nitrifying biofilters to oxidize ammonia excreted by fish to nitrate (Gutierrez-Wing and Malone 2006) and (3) a number of gas exchange devices to remove dissolved carbon dioxide expelled by the fish as well as/or adding oxygen required by the fish and nitrifying bacteria (Colt and Watten 1988; Moran 2010; Summerfelt 2003; Wagner et al.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems24.5 Conclusions
In “Ten technologies which could change our lives” (European Parliamentary Research Service, 2015), aquaponic systems were singled out as a solution for developing innovative and sustainable food sources for Europe which, through shortening of supply chains, could improve food security and food systems resilience. However, the technology is still newly emerging and as yet relatively undeveloped, and as the study by Laidlaw and Magee (2016) highlights, the viability of an aquaponics social enterprise depends not only on stakeholder commitment, thorough market analysis, clear governance structures, and a robust business plan, but also on external factors, such as the local political context and regulations.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems24.4 The Viability of Aquaponics Social Enterprises
The examples above illustrate some of the different business models adopted by aquaponics social enterprises. Whether they will continue to thrive and grow or, like Growing Power, ultimately fail, remains to be seen. In the case of Growing Power, potential reasons for its collapse include Will Allen’s inability to empower and retain an operational management team, and a lack of oversight by board members, which compromised the organization’s financial health (Satterfield 2018).
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems24.3 Food Security and Food Sovereignty
Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (Allison 2011). There are four food security pillars, which define, defend, and measure food security status locally, nationally, and internationally. These are food availability, food accessibility, food utilization, and food stability. Food availability is achieved when nutritious food is available at all times for people to access, while food accessibility is achieved when people at all times have the economic ability to obtain nutritious food available according to their dietary preferences.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems24.2 Health, Well-being, and Skills
Aquaponics offers an innovative form of therapeutic horticulture, a nature-based approach that can promote well-being for people with mental health problems through using a range of green activities such as gardening and contact with animals. Over the past decade, a number of social enterprises have emerged that provide therapeutic horticulture programs for improving the well-being of local communities. The social enterprise approach builds on “social firms” by facilitating people with mental health problems to develop new skills and re-engage with the workplace.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems24.1 Introduction
Social enterprises, as distinct from traditional private or corporate enterprise, aim to deliver products and services that cater to basic human needs. For a social enterprise, the primary motivation is not maximizing profit but building social capital; economic growth is therefore only part of a much broader mandate that includes social services such as rehabilitation, education and training, as well as environmental protection. There is growing interest in aquaponics among social enterprises, because it represents an effective tool to help them deliver their mandate.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems23.4 Findings and Discussion
From the first study, the findings showed that visions of a new way of teaching with inclusion of the modern technology could be perceived as an advantage in influencing transformational processes at school. Nevertheless, this process requires some critical, practical, and theoretical considerations for implementation of the system to make it successful and sustainable in the long term. Some of the positive issues from the users’ perspectives included a wide range of application in the subjects of biology, mathematics, science, and more.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems