Increased Production and Water Remediation by Land-Based Farm-Scale Sequentially Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture Systems—An Example from Southern Taiwan

Shinn-Lih Yeh, Hans-Uwe Dahms, Ying-Jer Chiu, Su-Jung Chang and Yi-Kuang Wang
Additional contact information
Shinn-Lih Yeh: Mariculture Research Center, Fisheries Research Institute, The Council of Agriculture, 4 Haipu, Sangu Village, Cigu District, Tainan City 72453, Taiwan
Hans-Uwe Dahms: Department of Biomedical Science and Environmental Biology, 100 Shih-Chuan 1st Road, Kaohsiung City 80708, Taiwan
Ying-Jer Chiu: Mariculture Research Center, Fisheries Research Institute, The Council of Agriculture, 4 Haipu, Sangu Village, Cigu District, Tainan City 72453, Taiwan
Su-Jung Chang: Mariculture Research Center, Fisheries Research Institute, The Council of Agriculture, 4 Haipu, Sangu Village, Cigu District, Tainan City 72453, Taiwan
Yi-Kuang Wang: Department of Ecology and Environmental Resources, National University of Tainan, 33, Sec. 2, Shu-Lin St., Tainan City 70005, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: Wastewater effluent from aquaculture ponds can affect aquatic ecosystems. To mitigate this problem, we designed 2 sets (southern and northern) of land-based and farm-scale sequential integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems in order to reduce water pollution and to diversify and optimize aquaculture products in coastal southern Taiwan. In each system, the 1st pond cultivated milkfish as the main aquaculture product, the 2nd pond cultivated Portuguese oysters as the product to reduce suspended particles, and the 3rd pond cultivated the seaweed Gracilaria sp. as feed and to absorb nutrients. Photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) were added to the southern system in order to reduce nutrients. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare performance parameters of the compartments and the overall IMTA systems preliminarily. Our results showed that the southern system with the addition of PSB had lower PO 4 ?3 -P, slightly higher turbidity, and higher brown algal biomass than the northern system. In the southern system, PO 4 ?3 -P and cyanobacteria levels were lowest at the end of the seaweed pond. In the northern system, NO 2 ? -N and phytoplankton levels were lowest at the end of the seaweed pond. Turbidity was reduced in the oyster pond and further reduced in the Gracilaria pond in both systems. The high seaweed yield in the northern system indicated substantial nutrient absorption. Advantages and limitations in terms of water purification and aquaculture production of these IMTA systems are evaluated in the present paper.

Keywords: integrated multi-trophic aquaculture; water quality; milkfish; Portuguese oyster; Gracilaria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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