Assessing risks and mitigating impacts of harmful algal blooms on mariculture and marine fisheries
Brown, A; Lowe, C; Shutler, J; et al.Tyler, C; Lilley, M
Date: 17 December 2019
Article
Journal
Reviews in Aquaculture
Publisher
Wiley
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food sector globally and protein provisioning from
aquaculture now exceeds that from wild capture fisheries. There is clear potential for the further
expansion of marine aquaculture (mariculture), but there are associated risks. Some naturally
occurring algae can proliferate under certain ...
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food sector globally and protein provisioning from
aquaculture now exceeds that from wild capture fisheries. There is clear potential for the further
expansion of marine aquaculture (mariculture), but there are associated risks. Some naturally
occurring algae can proliferate under certain environmental conditions, causing deoxygenation
of seawater, or releasing toxic compounds (phycotoxins), which can harm wild and cultured
finfish and shellfish, and also human consumers. The impacts of these so-called ‘harmful algal
blooms’ (HABs) amount to approximately 8 $billion/yr globally, due to mass mortalities in
finfish, harvesting bans preventing the sale of shellfish that have accumulated unsafe levels of
HAB phycotoxins, and unavoided human health costs.
Here we provide a critical review and analysis of HAB impacts on mariculture (and wild
capture fisheries) and recommend research to identify ways to minimise their impacts to the
industry. We examine causal factors for HAB development in inshore versus offshore locations
and consider how mariculture itself, in its various forms, may exacerbate or mitigate HAB risk.
From a management perspective, there is considerable scope for strategic siting of offshore
mariculture and holistic Environmental Approaches for Aquaculture, such as offsetting nutrient
outputs from finfish farming, via the co-location of extractive shellfish and macroalgae. Such
pre-emptive, ecosystem-based approaches are preferable to reactive physical, chemical or
microbiological control measures aiming to remove or neutralise HABs and their phycotxins.
To facilitate mariculture expansion and long-term sustainability, it is also essential to evaluate
HAB risk in conjunction with climate change.
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