World Aquaculture March 2019

WWW.WA S.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • MARCH 2019 17 B O O K R E V I E W M ore than a decade ago, when I visited the Laboratory of Aquaculture Ecology at the Ocean University of China, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China, I was surprised by the name of the lab. Professor Dong, director of the laboratory, explained that he studied aquaculture ecology as a branch discipline of aquaculture. He also described aquaculture as “applied ecology.” Since then, I have been looking forward to the publication of a textbook on aquaculture ecology. Last year, the book Aquaculture Ecology was first published by China Science Press (ISBN: 978-7-03-051734-0, 376 pages). Although it is written in Chinese, with English tables and figures, it is still very important for global aquaculture. This book contains 13 chapters. The authors define the terms aquaculture ecology, classifies aquaculture systems and integrated aquaculture systems, and introduce productivity and carrying capacity, interactions between aquaculture and environment, effects of cyclical fluctuation of environmental factors on aquatic organisms, biological control of water quality, structural optimization of aquaculture systems and ecological prevention of disease. In the last chapter, aquaculture systems are viewed frommultiple perspectives. Aquaculture ecology is defined in the book as a science about the interaction between the environment of commercial aquatic organisms as well their production activities, principles of aquaculture pattern construction and aquaculture system management. Therefore, learning aquaculture ecology is very important for aquacultures workers or students, who should know aquaculture principles and the effects of aquaculture on the environment. The hot research areas of aquaculture ecology include ecology of culture organism individuals, management of water quality, aquaculture system ecology, interactions between aquaculture production activities and environment, aquaculture ecological economics and ecological approaches to disease prevention. Aquaculture activities in China have a history of more than 2,000 years but it was not until the 1970s that its impact on environment and resources began to draw public concern. With progress in science and technology, especially application of commercial feeds and use of net cages, the scale of aquaculture has been rapidly expanding. Meanwhile, restrictions on the availability of land, fresh water and fishmeal to support aquaculture development have become increasingly common. The discharge of nitrogen and phosphorus, carbon footprint and ecological footprint of aquaculture systems are increasing significantly. Therefore, aquaculture development patterns need to be remolded as forms of ecological intensification. The book runs through the dialectical ideas of ecological intensification. According to the authors, ecological intensification of aquaculture systems is characterized by efficient production of safe, high-quality aquatic products in a way that protects and improves the natural environment, the social and economic conditions of farmers, their employees and local communities and safeguards the health and welfare of all farmed species. In open waters and ponds aquaculture the authors suggest that ecological intensification can be achieved through integrated aquaculture, based on the rationales of waste reclamation through trophic relationships, water quality maintenance through complementary functions between systems or species, making full use of the resources in aquaculture waters through different species’ niches (Chapter 9). Case studies from seawater pond farming in China show that nutrient discharges from an integrated shrimp-clam-seaweed farm can be reduced by 110-250 percent compared with monocultures. In indoor super-intensive aquaculture systems or recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS), they suggest that ecological intensification can be achieved with industrialized solar aquaculture systems (ISAS) to reduce pollutant discharge and to avoid inorganic nitrogen accumulation within the systems (Chapter 10). In marine fish farming they suggest that offshore or far-offshore mariculture can relieve coastal pollution and change aquaculture “pollutants” to “fertilizers” (Chapter 13). This book is mainly based on Chinese aquaculture science, technology and their own experiences, both successes and failures. China has the longest history of aquaculture, the largest scale of aquaculture and the most diverse aquaculture systems or models in the world, therefore, their experiences can be used as points of reference by many other countries in the world. This textbook has been recommended by the Academic Degrees Committee Office of the State Council of China as one of the core textbooks for the fisheries discipline. Several universities, even from outside of China, such as the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, also use it as an important reference book for fisheries and aquaculture disciplines. — Patrick Sorgeloos, WAS Past-president Aquaculture Ecology by Dong Shuanglin, Tian Xiangli, Gao Qinfeng