(Port Angeles, WA) Although they were separated by an ocean, a continent, and several time zones the participants and their featured speaker were in synch on Tuesday as Portugal-based professor, Dr. Joao Ferreira, delivered research findings at the first-ever, U.S.-based Workshop on Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture, also known as IMTA. “Significant enhancements occur both to production and environmental quality through the use of IMTA,” Ferreira told the 60-plus participants. “These lessons need to be applied to the West.”
Sponsored by the Pacific Aquaculture Caucus and Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Washington, the workshop attracted a range of scientific experts and researchers along with aquaculturists from the Pacific Northwest, Maine, Texas, and elsewhere. In the United States and Canada, IMTA is an evolving approach to seafood production that emphasizes an ecosystem management approach where ‘fed’ species, such as finfish or shrimp, are farmed in close proximity to species that can ‘extract’ nutrients from the water column, such as shellfish and algae or seaweed.
Whether participants see IMTA as a relatively new and “promising” approach for growing more seafood or an effort to showcase a form of aquaculture already being extensively used in China, interest in the concept was high. “I think we caught people’s attention with this workshop,” said PACAQUA President and workshop convener, Dr. Peter Becker. “We provided an open forum where new information was presented and we were willing to discuss all sides.”
Workshop speakers addressed a range of topics from the theoretical to the practical, including systems modeling, production methods, biosecurity, chemical and drug use, feeds, disease risk, species selection, economics, and community acceptance. These were in addition to Ferreira’s highly-anticipated presentation, which highlighted the use of statistical modeling to better project and predict the environmental and economic benefits from an integrated aquaculture operation. “I think it was quite a revelation for some hearing that we can model and predict what will happen on a farm based on science,” said Becker.
The ongoing work of Canadian professor and aquaculture researcher Dr. Stephen Cross and his SEAfarm site was featured as a case study for IMTA on the West Coast. Cross, who is the Director of the Coastal Aquaculture Research and Training Network at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, offered an overview of the project launched nine years ago in Kyuquot Sound, on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, B.C. His findings provided a practical example of the environmental and socio-economic challenges and benefits associated with commercial scale IMTA. Cross, who uses the term “Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture” to describe his approach to integrated aquaculture, is also an innovator, who is adapting and perfecting new equipment and farm configurations to advance his commercial-scale R&D project.
Cross’ project, which has encountered little opposition from local communities or national environmental organizations, also provided the foil for a presentation on the challenge of gaining social acceptance for aquaculture in the U.S. In a session led by Sebastian Belle, the Executive Director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, the audience heard about the David versus Goliath scenarios that play out over and over in Maine as local fishermen and aquaculturists apply for commercial aquaculture permits are met with cadres of lawyers representing waterfront landowners opposed to the permit. “It’s really boiling down to a social conflict now,” said Belle. “In Maine, it’s become a conflict between people who need to work for a living and those who don’t. “
Belle also emphasized the challenge of changing demographics in waterfront communities as a hurdle for any form of aquaculture. “We have fewer and fewer people living in these coastal communities with traditional ties to the ocean, so there is less and less tolerance of anything that is extractive. These folks are interested in recreation and tourism, not oyster farms and working waterfronts.”
However, holding the workshop in Port Angeles provided a ready-made tie to a Pacific Northwest community with strong ties to the marine environment between the college’s fisheries and aquaculture program and American Gold’s aquaculture site. “We emphasize training and education for rural economic development in an environmentally sustainable way,” said Professor Jack Ganzhorn, the college’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Program Coordinator.
The workshop wrapped up Wednesday with a focus on ecological, economic, social acceptance discussions by all the participants. Workshop findings will be published in a white paper.
Workshop sponsors included the Pacific Aquaculture Caucus, Peninsula College, the NOAA Aquaculture Program, and the Illinois Soybean Association, Indiana Soybean Alliance, Taylor Shellfish, Umami Sea Vegetables, SEAvision Black Cod, and American Gold Seafood.
Meeting Abstracts are attached
Meeting Pamphlet is attached
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