Shellfish and fin-fish farmers
As a farmer you will have found that environmental issues are important for you. Firstly, as a citizen you are concerned that the impact your farm has on the environment is as low as possible. Secondly, the economics of your business may be driven by scale and so the size of your farm, linked to the environmental resource you require, may be a key factor in its profitability. Thirdly, your growing stock need good water quality to thrive and grow well so you will be interested in the physical processes that deliver clean oxygenated water and dilute excretory wastes such as ammonia or effluents such as bath medicine treatments. Finally, depending on your regulatory environment, you will have environmental monitoring requirements for existing farms and may have to produce an Environmental Statement on the likely impacts of proposed new sites.
In this toolbox you will find models that will help you determine the capacity of a proposed new site for a particular scale of development. You will also find information on the indicators that are used by scientists and regulators to assess the effects that farming has on the environment.
In the different sections of the toolbox you will find documents and papers describing the tools, how they are used, what their scientific basis is and whether they have proved cost-effective and useful. In some cases you will be able to download software directly from this site or from a linked site, in other cases you will be directed to the “owner” and given instructions on how to proceed.
Some of these tools are specific to certain environments. We have studied a range of sites across Europe with different species and husbandry processes. These are available as case studies where we have tested and applied our set of tools.
Socio-economic aspects of aquaculture development
Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food producing sectors, and currently contributes just under 40% to world supplies of fish and other aquatic organisms. The benefits of this development are real and visible, both for producing countries (e.g. support for rural livelihoods, improved food security, export earnings) and for consumers in the form of lower prices. Growing concern over the environmental impact of aquaculture, however, has prompted a search for a governance framework that can guarantee sustainability – that is, a financially viable aquaculture industry in which the environmental damage is minimised. Sustainability indicators are an important component of such a governance framework, but should also include some measure of the wider socio-economic costs and benefits of aquaculture.
Follow this link for more on the socio-economic aspects of aquaculture.
You may also be interested in looking at the other introductory materials in this section
- Scientists - if you are interested in the methods used by ECASA to make and test these tools
- About the ecosystem approach as perceived and used by ECASA
- About the definitions of scales - read this to understand the difference between farm scale, water body scale, regional scale
The following links provide a further list of links to Models, Indicators and Case Studies of relevance to farming several species:
- Models that have been tested for salmon, cod, sea bass, sea bream, oyster and mussel farms
- Indicators that have been tested for salmon, cod, sea bass, sea bream, oyster and mussel farms
- Case studies on salmon, cod, sea bass, sea bream, oyster and mussel farms
- Other useful documents relevant to salmon, cod, sea bass, sea bream, oyster and mussel farms
The following are links to study site reports by region:
