World Aquaculture Magazine -December 2021

WWW.WA S .ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2021 29 constructing 91 turbines, with an investment estimated at $700 million, off Shandong province in the Bohai Sea. They are developing an integrated energy-food business model that will combine aquaculture into the foundations of the turbines by integrating six artificial reefs to grow oysters, sea cucumbers and several species of fish (Yu 2019). Such multi-national energy companies have substantial technological and engineering expertise to design and build new testing platforms for marine aquaculture in exposed sites, to create new decision support and visualization tools for optimizing and de- risk RAS, and to decarbonize aquaculture. Moreld Aqua announced it is developing a hybrid battery and energy management system which will allow remote monitoring and control to lower the carbon footprint of aquaculture. Electrification of operational, management and service vessels has the potential to unlock the offshore fishing and aquaculture economies, and integrated systems may finally be poised for major developments (Fig. 5). An Aquaculture Tool Kit for Radical Transformations Marshall et al. (2018) discussed the important roles of applied researchers as “transformative space-makers.” These leaders are not simply knowledge providers but they help to set the table for transformation to occur, employing experienced facilitators who can bring a variety of tools for participation that are central to both process and content (Wittymayer and Schapke 2014). DesignThinking Three pioneers of design thinking whose ideas and works are timeless, and have application for the design of aquaculture ecosystems are: IanMcHarg (1992), John and Nancy Todd (2006) and John Lyle (1999). McHarg (1969) wrote the influential volume Design with Nature that transformed the field of landscape architecture to landscape ecology and freed that profession from control by real estate developers (Steiner 2004). IanMcHarg was awarded the National Medal of Art by US President George Bush who stated at the ceremony that “I hope that in the 21 st century the largest accomplishment of art will be to restore the Earth.” McHarg’s work lives on at Ian L. McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design and their “Design with Nature Now” initiatives. Lyle wrote in Design for Human Ecosystems that the design component of scale was one of the three fundamental organizational concepts along with design process and ecological order in shaping ecosystems. He provided 12 regenerative strategies for the foundation of the Center of Regenerative Studies, California Polytechnic State University Pomona, whose focus on regenerative systems was “not so much a focus on technology as it is a deeper concern for shaping an integrative and mutually supportive relationship between humans and nature.” Lyle’s ideas of regenerative design aligned with concepts of systems thinking and mental models as he emphasized that designs do not have a beginning or an end but are a continuous loop, with opportunities to ask questions and to learn new information, and then to start again with a new, revised set of information. These pioneers have stimulated a new generation of outstanding ecological designers and architects. Most notable among the leaders is the MASS (Model of Architecture Serving Society) Design Group that implements awe-inspiring architecture that reaches far beyond buildings to “support communities to confront history, shape new narratives, collectively heal and project new possibilities for the future.” Lesley Stahl featured the MASS model of community-focused architecture on a recent segment of the US CBS news show 60 Minutes. FIGURE 6. A mental model of the effects of larval spillover from oyster aquaculture that illustrates well The Nature Conservancy definition of “restoration aquaculture” (TNC 2021). This mental model includes system interactions with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the four categories of ecosystems goods and services (Delago 2021). FIGURE 5. With the commercialization of electrification of offshore shipping and aquaculture, marine food systems integrated into offshore wind energy sites is now a win-win financial proposition for both parties. Offshore grids and charging stations will provide additional income for wind energy companies who now will balance needs for cables to shoreside substations. Electric fishing boats can charge offshore saving travel time and money, and advanced aquaculture systems will use embedded electric energy to manage position in the water column to deflect storm energy, deliver feeds and recover wastes (Background photo: Ørsted). ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 3 0 )