Offshore Aquaculture: I Know It When I See It

نویسندگان

  • Halley E. Froehlich
  • Alexandra Smith
  • Rebecca R. Gentry
  • Benjamin S. Halpern
چکیده

Offshore aquaculture is increasingly viewed as a mechanism to meet growing protein demand for seafood, while minimizing adverse consequences on the environment and other uses in the oceans. However, despite growing interest in offshore aquaculture, there appears to be no consensus as to what measures commonly define an offshore site or how effects of offshore aquaculture—relative to more nearshore practices—are assessed. This lack of agreement on what constitutes offshore aquaculture has the potential to convolute communication, create uncertainty in regulatory processes, and impede understanding of the ecological implications of offshore farming. To begin addressing these issues, we reviewed and analyzed biologically-focused primary and gray literature (Ntotal = 70) that categorize and quantify characteristics of offshore aquaculture from around the world. We found that many “offshore” descriptions are relatively close to shore (<3 nm) and significantly shallower (minimum depth ≤30 m) than may be assumed. We also uncovered an overall lack of consistent reporting of even the most common location-focused metrics (distance from shore, depth, current), a dearth of impact related studies (n = 17), and narrow scope of the studies themselves (i.e., 82% nutrient pollution). Of the finite subset of articles that investigated negative ecological impacts of offshore aquaculture, we found the probability of any measurable impact from an offshore farm appears to significantly decrease with distance from the farm (probability of measurable response at 90m± SE= 0.01± 0.03). Such general, but informative points of reference could be more robustly quantified with better systematic and standardized reporting of physical farm characteristics and a broader scope of ecological investigation into the effects of marine aquaculture. With offshore aquaculture still in its infancy, consistent metrics are needed for a comparable framework to guide sustainable offshore aquaculture research and development globally.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

I Know It When I See It: The Challenges of Addressing Corruption in Health Systems; Comment on “We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems”

In this commentary, I argue that corruption in health systems is a critical and legitimate area for research in order to strengthen health policy goals. This rationale is based partly on citizen demand for more accountable and transparent health systems, along with the fact that the poor and vulnerable suffer the most from the presence of corruption in health systems. W...

متن کامل

Cyprus- Offshore Aquaculture Mooring Systems: Current Status and Future Development

Cyprus’ offshore aquaculture industry has promising prospects taking into account that Cyprus is an island. Its production trend is increasing overtaking bigger countries such Greece and Italy. However, current mooring systems seem to be under-performing acting as obstacles for its future development. Furthermore, shallow coastal waters scarcity due to competing industries dictates future devel...

متن کامل

Aquaculture in offshore zones.

THE EDITORIAL BY ROSAMOND NAYLOR, “Offshore aquaculture legislation” (8 Sept., p. 1363), suggests that the motivation for moving aquaculture into the open ocean is that “marine f ish farming near the shore is limited by state regulations.” Although unworkable regulations may exist in a few states, in the larger scheme this is irrelevant. Of the offshore aquaculture projects currently under way,...

متن کامل

"I know it when I see it".

When writing can change your life, when writing can enrich you by offering much money, why don't you try it? Are you still very confused of where getting the ideas? Do you still have no idea with what you are going to write? Now, you will need reading. A good writer is a good reader at once. You can define how you write depending on what books to read. This i know it when i see it can help you ...

متن کامل

Concluding Thoughts: the Future of Offshore Aquaculture

The Offshore Aquaculture Consortium (OAC) was created as a collaborative, Gulf-wide, interdisciplinary research and development program in response to the U.S. Department of Commerce Aquaculture Policy. OAC research has demonstrated numerous components of offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico including permitting requirements, mooring systems, cage/mooring survival during several hurricane...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2017