by
Dr Thierry Chopin
In September 1995, I gave a presentation entitled “Mixed, integrated, poly-, or multi-level aquaculture - whatever you call it, it is time to put seaweeds around your cages!” at a conference in St Andrews, New Brunswick. I could see a number of faces in the room saying, “What is this guy talking about?!”
The period 1995-2000 was spent “preaching in the desert” for what was just “integrated aquaculture”. We wanted to differentiate our practice from monoculture. The obvious term was polyculture; however, cultivating three species of fish together, while being polyculture, does not address the problems of co-cultivating three fed species together.
In March 2004, at a workshop in Saint John, New Brunswick, we gave a name to what we were doing. I came up with “Integrated Aquaculture” and Jack Taylor with “Multi-Trophic Aquaculture”. By combining the two, “Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture” or “IMTA” was born, and in the 14 years since, more than 1,300 publications referring to IMTA have been published worldwide.
With IMTA, farmers cultivate species from different trophic levels, with complementary ecosystem functions, in proximity. They combine fed species (e.g. fish) with extractive species (e.g. seaweeds, aquatic plants, shellfish and other invertebrates) to take advantage of synergistic interactions among them, while biomitigation operates within a circular economy approach (nutrients are no longer considered wastes or by-products of one species, but co-products for the others).
The aim is to ecologically engineer a new ERA of aquaculture systems (Ecosystem Responsible Aquaculture) for increased environmental sustainability (ecosystem services and green technologies for improved ecosystem health), economic stability (improved output, lower costs, product diversification, risk reduction and job creation in coastal and rural communities), and societal acceptability (better management practices, improved regulatory governance, nutrient trading credit incentives and appreciation of differentiated and safe products).
Read more HERE.
In September 1995, I gave a presentation entitled “Mixed, integrated, poly-, or multi-level aquaculture - whatever you call it, it is time to put seaweeds around your cages!” at a conference in St Andrews, New Brunswick. I could see a number of faces in the room saying, “What is this guy talking about?!”
The period 1995-2000 was spent “preaching in the desert” for what was just “integrated aquaculture”. We wanted to differentiate our practice from monoculture. The obvious term was polyculture; however, cultivating three species of fish together, while being polyculture, does not address the problems of co-cultivating three fed species together.
In March 2004, at a workshop in Saint John, New Brunswick, we gave a name to what we were doing. I came up with “Integrated Aquaculture” and Jack Taylor with “Multi-Trophic Aquaculture”. By combining the two, “Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture” or “IMTA” was born, and in the 14 years since, more than 1,300 publications referring to IMTA have been published worldwide.
With IMTA, farmers cultivate species from different trophic levels, with complementary ecosystem functions, in proximity. They combine fed species (e.g. fish) with extractive species (e.g. seaweeds, aquatic plants, shellfish and other invertebrates) to take advantage of synergistic interactions among them, while biomitigation operates within a circular economy approach (nutrients are no longer considered wastes or by-products of one species, but co-products for the others).
The aim is to ecologically engineer a new ERA of aquaculture systems (Ecosystem Responsible Aquaculture) for increased environmental sustainability (ecosystem services and green technologies for improved ecosystem health), economic stability (improved output, lower costs, product diversification, risk reduction and job creation in coastal and rural communities), and societal acceptability (better management practices, improved regulatory governance, nutrient trading credit incentives and appreciation of differentiated and safe products).
Read more HERE.
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