Review
Regional Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (RIMTA): Spatially separated, ecologically linked

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110921Get rights and content

Highlights

  • IMTA implementation is very limited.

  • Fish farm wastes do not constitute a considerable food source for algae and bivalves.

  • RIMTA is designed for nutrient wastes from high trophic aquaculture.

  • RIMTA promotes independent location of cultures of low and high trophic level.

  • RIMTA uses an ecosystem-based approach using basin nutrient budgets.

Abstract

Aquaculture sustainability is restricted by environmental drawbacks such as the pollution derived from the released organic waste. Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) aims to lower the input of this waste by culturing other species of low trophic level which feed on them. Despite the appealing idea of IMTA, its implementation is very limited in marine ecosystems. Focusing on marine fish farming, in general terms, fish farm waste is not expected to constitute a relevant food source for low-trophic level organisms cultured in the water column. We propose Regional Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture (RIMTA) as a shift of paradigm in the way IMTA is used to sequester the dissolved exported waste and derived primary production generated by high trophic level cultures. RIMTA advocates for independent allocation of cultures of low and high trophic level species within the same water body. RIMTA implementation should be economically supported through tax benefits or nutrient quota trading schemes. Moving from IMTA to RIMTA should not only foster aquaculture sustainability but also the circular economy and the ecosystem services that the low trophic level cultures provide.

Section snippets

Environmental drawbacks of fed species aquaculture

The environmental degradation produced by aquaculture limits its sustainability. In the case of marine fish farming the pollution generated from organic waste can negatively affect marine habitats (Read and Fernandes, 2003). Organic waste mainly originates from uneaten feed and the faeces from cultured fish and are released in dissolved and particulate form (Sanz-Lazaro and Marin, 2008). The export of dissolved and particulate organic waste to the environment leads to eutrophication (Folke et

IMTA, from tradition to the industrial era

The culturing of different species together has been performed for many years mainly in land-based aquaculture in Asia (Costa-Pierce, 2010). Traditionally, polyculture was in the form of small households in freshwater environments combining different fish species of fish with other organisms such as rice. Despite the possible benefits of the culturing of species in combination, in a polyculture one species does not necessarily feed on the wastes generated by another species (Soto, 2009).

Why IMTA using macroalgae and bivalve molluscs does not seem to work as expected in open water areas?

This apparent mismatch between laboratory and in situ experiments is easily understood when considering the production system of fish farms and feeding biology of low trophic level organisms. First, marine fish farming generally involves relatively large juveniles and adults with generally one to two meals per day (Piper et al., 1986; Güroy et al., 2006). Since cultured fish mainly defecate just before feeding (Sanchez-Vazquez and Madrid, 2007; Oppedal et al., 2011), the exportation of organic

Different type of waste, different scales for mitigation

Effective mitigation strategies against potential environmental drawbacks derived from aquaculture waste must follow an ecosystem-based approach taking into account suitable spatial scales according to the area of dispersion of this waste (Costa-Pierce and Page, 2013). Since particulate and dissolved waste have markedly different dispersion dynamics (Tett, 2008; Sanz-Lázaro et al., 2011; Jansen et al., 2018), adaptive scales should be considered depending on the type of waste.

In the case of

Conclusions

We present RIMTA as a shift of the paradigm in the way IMTA is used to mitigate the impacts of dissolved exported waste by the farming of high trophic level species. RIMTA advocates for independent allocation of cultures of low and high trophic level species within the same water body, reducing the negative interactions among production systems. Based on an ecosystem-based approach, the scales used by IMTA are broadened to adapt them to the size of the water body. Accordingly, the nutrient and

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

C. S. was funded by the contract ‘Juan de la Cierva’ (ref. JCI- 2012–12413) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and by the University of Alicante (Ref. UATALENTO 17–11). This work was funded by the project CGL 2015- 70136-R from the MINECO and the EU ERDF funding programme.

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