Volume 2 Special Issue 1 2008
Aquaculture 1

How to reference: Serpa D, Duarte P (2008) Impacts of Aquaculture and Mitigation Measures. In: Russo R (Ed) Aquaculture 1. Dynamic Biochemistry, Process Biotechnology and Molecular Biology 2 (Special Issue 1), 1-20

Guest Editor

Riccardo Russo

Issue Information [PDF]

CONTENTS AND ABSTRACTS

Dalila Serpa, Pedro Duarte (Portugal) Impacts of Aquaculture and Mitigation Measures (pp 1-20)

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ABSTRACT

Invited Review: The role of aquaculture in world food production is increasing very fast, contributing with more than 40% for the total production of aquatic organisms. The general approach in modern aquaculture resembles much that of industrial agriculture and husbandry, with large energy subsidies and the usage of many chemicals in, predominantly, monoculture systems, with a large ecological footprint. In spite of the large body of regulation available worldwide, there are important ecologic, economic and social impacts in many countries as a result of aquaculture. In some cases, the anticipation of these impacts by local populations represents a negative feedback for aquaculture development. In the present work, a review of those impacts is presented, followed by a discussion of the carrying capacity concept, then by presenting some approaches and methods that may help planning aquaculture developments including the Drives Pressures States Impacts Responses framework, modelling and Decision Support Systems and, finally, by a synthesis of aquaculture related legislation worldwide. The analysis of a large number of works suggests that aquaculture management should be participated by local stakeholders and viewed within the context of other management approaches, such as Integrated Coastal Zone Management. This may allow for a better ecosystemic integration of aquaculture with other activities in line with Ecological Engineering concepts. Likely, there should be more investment in low-trophic level species to reduce aquaculture ecological footprint.

Carlos Sanz-Lázaro, Arnaldo Marín (Spain) Assessment of Finfish Aquaculture Impact on Benthic Communities in the Mediterranean Sea (pp 21-32)

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Invited Mini-Review: This manuscript discusses the state-of-the-art investigations related with the benthic impact of marine finfish farms in the Mediterranean Sea. We tackle the ideas from a broad perspective, mentioning issues that are of a widespread importance in marine finfish aquaculture, before putting them into the context of the Mediterranean Sea, with its distinctive and specific characteristics. This document comments on the most evident changes related with the alteration of chemical parameters and community assemblages but specially focuses on the consequences for the whole benthic system. We look at current knowledge of the particulate deposition and dispersion rates of aquaculture wastes and the existing related models, and emphasize the previously unconsidered role of wild fish as a potential sink of exported particulate wastes. The carrying capacity of different benthic ecosystems influenced by fish farms is discussed. The benthic impact of Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) fattening is summarized and compared with the impact of guilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) and sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) rearing. The suitability of using a suite of tools for assessing aquaculture impact is discussed, highlighting the importance of using toxicity tests as a new complementary technique. Ideas and suggested implementations are put into the context of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) guidelines.

Lucía Fernández, Beatriz Álvarez, Aurora Menéndez, Jessica Méndez, José Agustín Guijarro (Spain) Molecular Tools for Monitoring Infectious Diseases in Aquaculture Species (pp 33-43)

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Invited Review: The rapid detection and identification of pathogens in infected fish, both clinically and subclinically, and in environmental samples is essential for effective health management in aquaculture. Traditional diagnostic techniques have been very useful for the identification of infectious agents in cultured fish and shellfish; however, they are limited in their speed and sensitivity. For this reason, the application of molecular biology techniques in this field has offered a wide range of possibilities in terms of decreased time required for diagnosis, and increased specificity, sensitivity and quantification of the infectious agent. This review summarises the most relevant molecular tools which have been used in aquaculture species.

Alexandra Leitão, Raquel Chaves (Portugal) Banding for Chromosomal Identification in Bivalves: A 20-year History (pp 44-49)

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Invited Mini-Review: Bivalves include some of the world’s best known invertebrates and several species are very economically important for aquaculture production. This is reflected in the increasing amount of data on chromosomal characterization in this group compared to other aquatic invertebrates. This paper presents a review on banding for chromosomal identification in bivalves during the last two decades, which highlights the continuously development in the last years of the banding technique of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), which represents nowadays more than three quarts of all chromosomal banding studies in bivalves. Our intention was to provide an exhaustive bibliographic review useful not only to marine cytogeneticists, but also to marine biologists, marine taxonomists and also aquaculture producers, among others. An overview of the main application of chromosomal banding, both from a more fundamental evolutionary point of view, as well as from a more practical production point on view are also presented.

Harrison Charo-Karisa (Kenya), Hans Komen, Henk Bovenhuis (The Netherlands), Mahmoud A. Rezk (Egypt), Raul W. Ponzoni (Malaysia) Production of Genetically Improved Organic Nile Tilapia (pp 50-54)

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Invited Mini-Review: Demand for organic products for human consumption has been on the increase due to the belief that organic products are safer and healthier to the consumer and the environment. In developing countries, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is usually grown in low-input organically fed ponds with little or no high protein supplementary feeding, an environment suitable for production of organic fish. However, Nile tilapia from such production systems do not attain large sizes which leads to low pond yields. This paper presents results of an attempt to improve the performance of organically farmed tilapia through selection for growth in organically fertilised earthen ponds. The selection environment consisted of earthen ponds fertilized daily with 50 kg dry matter (dm)/ha chicken manure. Body weight increased with selection and substantial response was recorded. Gut length increased with selection for body weight. Moreover, gut length and body weight were genetically highly correlated indicating that tilapia selected for growth on a herbivorous diet may develop longer guts as a mechanism for increasing capacity and efficiency for nutrient absorption. Taken together, these results demonstrate the feasibility of selection for growth of organic Nile tilapia. Meanwhile, organic certifications for Nile tilapia should be instituted for better prices and increased profits of organic fish.

Ryszard Rudnicki, Radosław Wieczorek (Poland) Mathematical Models of Phytoplankton Dynamics Ipublish™ (pp 55-63)

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Invited Mini-Review: We provide a survey of different approaches to study of phytoplankton dynamics. Our aim is to present models which show that phytoplankton forms large clusters of cells. We start from microscopic models describing the formation of phytoplankton clusters from single cells and their macroscopic limits. The macroscopic approach is modelled by means of stochastic partial differential equations or coagulation-fragmentation equations. Moreover, we mention advection-diffusion-reaction models. These models include interaction between phytoplankton, zooplankton and nutrient and vertical movement of phytoplankton.

Jiawei Xu, Sifa Li, Chenghui Wang, Qin Chen, Qinling Yang (China) Complete Nucleotide Sequence of Mitochondrial Genome of Silver Carp, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (pp 64-67)

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Short Communication: Silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) of the family Cyprinidae, the largest family of the freshwater fishes, is one of the most important fish species in the world. The complete nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial genome for silver carp was determined by overlapping and accurate polymorphism chain reaction. The genome of the silver carp is 16620 bp in size, containing 13 protein-coding genes (ND1-6, ND4L, COI-III, ATPase8, ATPase6, Cytb), 2 ribosomal RNAs (12S rRAN and 16S rRNA), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and a putative control region (D-loop). The codon usage also follows the typical vertebrate pattern (ATG) except for an unusual GTG start codon for the COI gene. The complete sequences of silver carp mitochondrial genome has been deposited in GenBank with accession No. EU315941 or NC_010156.

Chester B. Zarnoch, Amandine Surier, Richard Karney, Martin P. Schreibman, Sandy Gamss (USA) Influence of Triploidy on the Biochemical Composition and Fiber Size of Bay Scallop (Argopecten irradians; Lamarck) Adductor Muscle (pp 68-71)

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Original Research Paper: The adductor muscles of triploid and diploid bay scallops, Argopecten irradians (Lamarck, 1819) were examined to investigate mechanisms that may be responsible for the greater size often observed in triploid bivalves. Tissue dry weight and biochemical composition of the adductor muscle, as well as number and size of adductor muscle fibers were compared between triploid and diploid bay scallops. Analysis of protein, carbohydrate, and lipid content of bay scallop adductor muscles showed no significant difference between the triploids and diploids. Measurements of adductor muscle fiber size and number of fibers per unit area indicate that the triploids have larger fibers than diploids (17% larger) but do not have a significantly different number of fibers per unit area. Our results suggest that triploids may compensate for larger fiber size by decreasing connective tissue.

Riccardo Russo, Roy P. E. Yanong (USA) Variations in Streptococcus iniae Vaccine Efficacy among Ornamental Cyprinids (pp 72-77)

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Original Research Paper: Two formulations, with oil or aluminum salt as adjuvant, of an autogenous vaccine against Streptococcus iniae were tested in juvenile and adult rainbow (Epalzeorhynchos erythrurus)and red tail black sharks (E. bicolor, RTB shark); in juvenile blue shark (a phenotypic variant of rainbow shark created by artificial selection); and in adult rosy barbs (Barbus conchonius) to determine if the same vaccine could be used in closely related fish. Juvenile and adult fish were acclimated in the experimental systems for one week, and then vaccinated by intracoelomic injection. After 3 weeks, fish were challenged by intracoelomic injection with 1.5 × 10 ⁵ CFU S. iniae/fish and mortalities recorded for 12 days. Intraspecific and interspecific differences in vaccine efficacy were observed. Both vaccine formulations were more efficacious (p< 0.05) in adult RTB (the Relative Percent Survival (RPS) was 82 with the oil and aluminum formulation) and rainbow sharks (the RPS was 23 and 64 with the oil and aluminum formulation) than in juvenile RTB (the RPS was 35 with the aluminum formulation) and rainbow sharks (the RPS was 11 and 8 with the oil and aluminum formulation). Both vaccine formulations were also more efficacious in juvenile and adult RTB sharks than in juvenile and adult rainbow sharks. The vaccine efficacy in juvenile blue sharks (the RPS was 10) was significantly higher (p< 0.05) than the protection observed in juvenile rainbow shark (the RPS was 0) when fish were challenged with 3 × 10 ⁵ CFU S. iniae/fish. The vaccine was most efficacious in rosy barb indicating the possibility to use the same vaccine formulation for additional species of ornamental fish (the RPS was 91 and 79 with the oil and aluminum formulation).