WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2017 15 Rodrigue Yossa: What do you think will be the main challenges of aquaculture in the future? Patrick Sorgeloos: I have had the chance to follow aquaculture practices and developments in different continents and to witness over the last four decades how successful “business” aquaculture has taken off. We can be proud of the expansion of “business” aquaculture, which is mostly based on the monoculture of shrimp, salmon, tilapia, seabass, seabream, etc., which can be considered as success stories. However, when we look at it from an ecological point of view, the current situation of business aquaculture can be considered close to its limits, because big-scale monoculture of shrimp or fish is at a turning point of sustainability, and the expansion of this type of aquaculture cannot be accepted in the decades to come. So, we need to develop integrated aquaculture approaches in order to recreate and maintain stable environments and highly productive aquaculture ecosystems. Depending on the region and places, such integrated systems should include multi-trophic aquaculture offshore, greenwater (or mature water) technology in shrimp farming, recirculating aquaculture systems with several species including plants (aquaponics), and so on. For instance, shrimp farmers who recently have switched to green- or maturewater technology in Southeast Asia following the devastating EMS outbreaks of the last three years are having the same profit like when Sorgeloos, continued from page 12 they were doing monoculture in the good years. In fact, although the production is a little bit lower, the stable rearing environment created through integration of intensive shrimp farming with tilapia and seaweed polyculture reduces the use of inputs such as therapeutics, because the pathogens, although still present, are less harmful. Therefore, although aquaculture has gone through three to four decades of increasing production and good business, we have reached the limits with monoculture. The development in monoculture should not be considered a mistake because, if the pioneers in the 1970s wanted to set up integrated aquaculture systems, they would probably have not succeeded because the knowledge of science and technology associated with integrated systems was not available yet. We have succeeded in focusing on monoculture of different species (fish, shrimps, mollusks, algae). Now we need to balance the sets of knowledge gained through monocultures by integrating them into an ecosystem-based approach, which will allow us to sustainably produce more aquaculture products in the future. Nevertheless, the development of successful integrated systems in different regions throughout the world will also be the next big challenge of aquaculture and will require a few more decades of multidisciplinary research and development. Rodrigue Yossa: What does the future of aquaculture look like in your region? Patrick Sorgeloos: A few decades ago, the European Union (EU) wanted to set up several technology platforms involving EU countries and they initially asked a few of us to set up the European Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform (EATiP). The EATiP is now composed of groups of all the stakeholders involved in aquaculture business in Europe, including farmers, feed companies, pharmaceutical companies, knowledge centers (including academics, trainers and extension specialists), consumers (including retailers), and legislators. The EATiP board is composed of eleven CEOs and this board makes recommendations for aquaculture research, supported by the stakeholders, to the EU. I am currently the chairman of the Working Group “International Cooperation” at EATiP because the next step (or challenge) is to reconcile the EATiP with the rest of the world. In fact, some European farmers have been complaining to the European Commission (EC) that our markets are flooded with Asian seafood supposedly produced in an unsustainable manner. In return, I always tell the EC that ten years from now Europe will have a seafood security problem (and not just Africa as some people like to believe) because today about 70 percent of the seafood consumed in Europe is imported, and this percentage tends to increase year after year. There is high probability that in the coming years the fish that is currently imported for instance from Vietnam will be directed to China, which is now becoming a net importer of seafood. If the seafood from Southeast Asia currently sold to Europe is diverted towards China, there will be a problem. In addition, we are informing European trout, seabass, seabream farmers that it is good that young European families eat affordable imported pangasius because, if their children get used to eating fish from a young age, then they will become interested to explore other fish species, including locally-produced fish. Such a misunderstanding of the international cooperation with Asia, which is in fact a win-win situation rather (CONTINUED ON PAGE 16)
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