The use of spatial modelling as a tool to assist with decision making in the development and management of environmentally sustainable aquaculture of importance to European trade from Southeast Asia.
Lynne Falconer: Ph.D.
In recent years there has been a movement, largely led by increasing consumer awareness, to improve the sustainability of aquaculture worldwide. Many products are traded internationally and to ensure fairness and equality it is vital that the European industry aims to have sustainable products from both European aquaculture and commodities that are imported from outside of Europe. The SEAT (Sustaining Ethical Aquaculture Trade) project aims to explore the sustainability of aquaculture products from Bangladesh, China, Thailand and Vietnam with a focus on tilapia, pangasius, shrimp and prawns. The image (above, right) shows the study areas in each of the four countries and location of aquaculture of the case study species). This PhD project is partly funded by the SEAT project and is included in Work Package 4 (Environmental Models).
Currently, site suitability models are being developed for study areas within the four countries (Bangladesh, China, Thailand and Vietnam) that are weighted towards environmentally sustainable aquaculture. The image (right) shows the conceptual design of the site suitability models. The outputs of these models can be used by a) regulators to assess which areas are suitable/not suitable for further development and expansion, b) EU retailers when making decisions about which countries and then which regions to source their produce from, and perhaps eventually c) consumers, allowing them to make an ethical choice with regards to environmental sustainability when deciding which products to buy with regards to what country/area supplies the retailer. Models have been designed with simplicity in mind so that outputs can be used by a wide range of people who do not necessarily have a background in aquaculture or science. Future work will also assess the difference between hard and soft (fuzzy) classification methods when presenting work to stakeholders.
This animation (at right) shows the study area in China indicating areas suitable for freshwater aquaculture (Tilapia) for each month of the year. Red = Highly Unsuitable, Orange = Unsuitable, Yellow = Moderate, Green = Suitable, Blue = Highly Suitable.
Further work will involve the development of models which will assess the risk of nutrient and chemicals used in pond aquaculture and the ability of geographical areas to manage with such inputs. Models will be used to identify areas where there is a higher risk of damage to the natural environment with current conditions and potential future climatic events and natural disasters such as flooding or cyclones. The outputs of these models could be used by a) regulators when assessing potential aquaculture impacts or developing environmental quality standards (EQS) and b) producers themselves so they understand areas which are more susceptible to environmental damage and therefore can employ management strategies to minimise potential impact and work towards environmentally sustainable aquaculture.
This project is funded by the Institute of Aquaculture and the EU FP7 SEAT (Sustaining Ethical Aquaculture Trade) Project [seatglobal.eu]