8 DECEMBER 2014 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG Book Review Water quality in warmwater fish ponds, first published in 1979, was my initial introduction to the science of water chemistry as applied to aquaculture ponds, given to me as a young and idealistic Peace Corps volunteer and aspiring aquaculturist. My copy of that book bristles with post-it notes that mark sections I found particularly useful and annotated in the margins. The blue cover is scuffed from use but in otherwise good condition. The second version of this book, Water Quality in Ponds for Aquaculture, was published in 1990, and it too is marked with multi-color tabs, although the rather poor binding meant that large chunks of pages became detached and are now loosely stuffed into place. Now, the third version of this book, Handbook for Aquaculture Water Quality has been published, co-authored with Craig Tucker. The books are of identical size (15 × 23 cm) and stack one on top of the other neatly. The progression of these books tells the story of the evolution of water quality in aquaculture as an area of scientific inquiry. It also tracks the evolution of the career of Claude Boyd as the preeminent scientist working in this area of aquaculture science. The first version of the book had three main parts: principles of water quality, water quality management and measurement of water quality. The second version of the book did away with the laboratory measurement and methods section, which was published separately, and included the original principles and management sections, expanded to include much more information about water quality in marine shrimp ponds. The new book, as the title suggests, discusses water quality independent of the pond aquaculture production system, although water quality in ponds remains the major theme. The new book has been completely reorganized and revised, with the big change being a general coupling of principle with management. For example, the discussion about dissolved oxygen dynamics is paired with a chapter about aeration. The reorganization has also resulted in much more succinct and salient discussions of topics than in previous versions; the page count has decreased from 482 to 439 from the 1990 version to the current book, despite the expanded scope. Nearly all chapters include excellent summaries of the physiological effects of particular water quality variables on cultured animals, indicating one of the many contributions of the second author to the book. A section on measurement of a particular water quality variable concludes most chapters. Overall, the illustrations, graphs and figures are better quality than in previous versions, although there are some digital photographs that were distorted when placed. The list of references at the end of each chapter are not exhaustive, emphasizing publications of the first author, but representing key references for deeper investigation into a topic. The authors selected the less-useful and awkward convention of numbering citations in the text, rather than providing author names. The book begins with chapters on the fundamentals of water science, with a good discussion of hydrology that is based on the terms in water budgets for aquaculture production systems. Then, a new chapter to this book on ecological principles is provided, including an excellent discussion of the role of life support, culture system intensity and the footprint of aquaculture. A chapter on water sources and culture systems follows, emphasizing ponds but including flow-through systems, cages, recirculating systems, shellfish and seaweeds – all indicating the expanded scope of the book. The ordering of the water chemistry chapters has shifted, giving prominence to those water quality variables in order of priority. In general, the ordering of chapters flows much more logically than in the previous two versions. After the introductory chapters, two chapters discuss dissolved ions and salinity and then alkalinity and hardness. Given the importance of alkalinity in buffering pH changes, chapters on carbon dioxide, pH and liming follow. There is interesting organization of this topic by describing the processes that affect pH in aquaculture production systems. The section on liming in previous versions of the book has become a subsection of a more comprehensive “managing pH” section. Here too a new passage on managing high pH in aquaculture ponds is provided. Chapters on fertilization and feeds and water quality follow. The chapter on fertilization has been significantly modified from previous versions of the book, with a much more cogent and concise summary of the topic provided, although incorporating more of the work of the Pond Dynamics and Aquaculture CRSP on this topic would have been welcome. The next group of chapters starts with a new chapter on thermal stratification and mixing, a topic that was only a subsection of a chapter in previous versions of the book. Again, a phenomenon (stratification) is linked with a management approach (mixing). Chapters on dissolved oxygen and aeration follows. These chapters are considerably revised and updated from previous versions of the book and are much more succinct, organized from the perspective of the terms in pond dissolved oxygen budgets. There is new information about aeration rate and aerator placement. A new chapter on gas supersaturation, important in hatcheries and flowthrough systems in particular, has been added to this version of the book. A chapter on solids, turbidity and color follows, including a discussion of sedimentation basins and effluent treatment. Next is a chapter on nitrogen, with a particularly good discussion of the forms of nitrogen in ponds and the toxicity of ammonia and nitrite. A new chapter on hydrogen sulfide has been added, a topic that was covered in only a couple of pages in previous versions of the book. A new chapter on toxic algae and off-flavor provides a particularly deep treatment of the topic, indicating the contribution Handbook for Aquaculture Water Quality by Claude E. Boyd and Craig S. Tucker
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