Tuesday, August 13, 2013

13/08/13: Is land-based aquaculture a threat?; decoding fish populations using restaurant menus; more support for omega-3 benefits

Is land based aquaculture a threat to Norway's traditional net and pen farming?
On commission from the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, Nofima scientists have evaluated whether new operational concepts within aquaculture can threaten Norway’s position as an aquaculture nation.

The following systems have been evaluated: recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) both in Norway and in countries with low production costs, offshore sea cages and closed-containment sea-based systems in both exposed and sheltered locations.

“We see that land-based or closed-containment sea-based systems, often using recirculating technology, are being built in Denmark, North America, Scotland and China. Land-based and closed-containment sea-based systems will involve much higher investment costs, but some of this disadvantage is expected to be offset by lower operating costs. However, there is a long way to go before closed-containment constructions will be as economical as today’s net-based solutions,” says Scientist Audun Iversen.

Restaurant menus could hold the key to tracing Hawaii's wild fish history.

Scientists at Duke University, USA are hoping to fill a 45-year gap in official wild fish population records by looking at what was served in restaurants. 

Almost 400 menus from 154 restaurants were collected from holiday makers who took the menus as souvenirs.

Researchers found that near-shore species such as reef fish, jacks and bottom fish were commonplace on menus in the 1940s but by 1959, these creatures appeared on less then 10 percent of menus. Instead, restuarants began serving pelagic species and by the 1970s pelagics appeared on 95 percent of the menus studied.

Changing public tastes may account for some of the menu changes. However, the scientists also analysed landing records which suggest that disappearance of reef fish from Hawaii's menus paralleled drops in wild populations.

Another reason to eat fish:
Eating at least one portion of oily fish, such as salmon or mackerel, a week can halve the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, according to new research.

Researchers studied 32,000 Swedish women over the course of a decade and their consumption of Omega-3-rich fish.

Women who ate at least one serving of fish oily fish or four servings of other fish each week halved their risk.

Omega-3-rich fish appears to be a good anti-inflammatory agent, which would explain how it might combat arthritis, say researchers in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
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