Animal Production : Food Production

Aquaculture can be defined as farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants both in freshwater and saltwater. It has a wide range of ownerships from small family business to multimillionaire global industries.1It provides many job opportunities throughout the world. As an example Canadian aquaculture industry valued $ 5 billion Canadian dollars provides more than 130 000 jobs only in Canada.2Accelerated growth of aquaculture causes series of problems to both human health and environment.3Most bacterial species resides both in animals and well as in human will pathogenic to both. transfer of pathogens between the two host species is a common situation for most organisms.4 Most of the developing country aquatic farms are non-hygienic and stressful. This will lead to an increase of bacterial infection among most aquatic species. As a preventative and curative method farmers mix a huge amount of antimicrobial products with the aquatic feed.5 Since aquaculture is a global industry, Implemented laws and regulations are different from country to country. It is very difficult to implement global regulations relating to antimicrobial use.1

One of the most commonly shared beliefs about aquaculture is that it has potential to amplify and transfer disease/parasites to wild fish populations, but strict management practices and guidelines have been utilized and supplemented to ensure that US farming operations mitigate current and potential environmental risks associated with aquaculture (NOAA, 2015). Among these practices are regular diver-led inspections to investigate the integrity of nets and net infrastructure, surveillance cameras and even public webcam feeds that monitor the fish farms and in particular monitor efficient use of feed, regular health inspections in efforts to have a head start on disease prevention and detection, and “comprehensive sanitary and biosecurity programs to prevent the introduction and/or spread of pests or diseases from one farm site/cage to another or into the environment.” (NOAA, 2015). Additionally, movements are being made to stop the spreading of disease and to limit oceanic pollution by containing salmon in solid tanks rather than in netting. “In Washington State, Domsea Farms has launched a land-based, freshwater system to produce coho salmon.” (David Suzuki Foundation, n.d.) This method is not only environmentally sound, but it opens up aquacultural boundaries. By containing fish in these large tanks, there is potential for salmon aquaculture to

Now, for a hydroponics there are three ways you could do it; water culture, multi flow, and ebb and flow. Water culture is a low cost and easy one and all you need is a styrofoam platform, water, and plants; Multi flow is a medium cost and is kinda hard to build and all it relies on is gravity flood plant trays with water and nutrients, a timer, float switch to control water levels, and plants; and finally Ebb and flow and that’s an easy system too and all it takes a plant tray, tubing, water pump, nutrients, water, and plants. Yet, for all of these you need a container or a fish tank to put them

With a minimal initial investment of $100,000 and a single acre of level ground, a self-sustaining aquaponics based growing operation can be established and become profitably within 6 months. Through continuous year round vegetable and fish production, this operation can conservatively generate $250,000 in annual revenue starting in the very first year. While the initial investment in materials and equipment is steep, the output of this system rapidly accelerates to full potential and costs very little to maintain on an annual basis. The versatility of this system allows for the

Living on a farm for the first half of my life, I know that my dad and many of our neighbors’ schedules revolved around the rain. Aquaponic and hydroponic methods of farming both provide dramatic reduction in water usage. One system designed by Nate Storey claims to be able to reduce water usage substantially (2014). He says that a similar sized back yard garden will use twenty times the water as hydroponic/aquaponics system. Other systems have seen similar reduction in water usage, because unlike traditional farming with irrigation, aquaponics and hydroponics is a closed system that recirculates water multiple times so that most water loss is through evaporation and the plants using it for osmosis. In traditional farming, water is lost to runoff or evaporates before the crops have a chance to use it. Moreover, aquaponics was originally mentioned as a way to reduce fish imports and allow people of inland populations to have locally raised fish and produce in the Virgin Islands (Rakocy 2000). With the need to provide food, particularly meat, aquaponically raised fish provide an alternative to shipping fish inland from the coasts or international

Shellfish require nitrogen to grow and while growing, filter the water, improving water clarity and removing biomass (Bricker et al., 2018). Harvesting the shellfish makes the removal permanent and in the case of the blue mussel in Sweden, a 10 by 200 m by 6m deep farm grows 140 to 180 metric tons of mussels removing almost 1400 to 1800 Kilograms of Nitrogen in 18 months (Lindahl et al., 2005). This same farm can filter about 50,000 square meters of surface water over the course of a year improving water clarity (Lindahl et al., 2005). Considering that the LNB encompasses over 500 ha of water, which provides plenty of space for aquaculture without conflicts with other users. Approval for a project like a mussel farm or other shellfish would require a purpose or business plan plus a variety of permits. Aquaculturists in Long Island Sound already grow oysters, which provides the same benefits as mussels, but takes a little longer to grow. Connecticut DEEP manages the permitting process in this area, providing a single organization to work with. The nitrogen removed from a single farm would go a long way towards mitigating the 88000Kg of nitrogen added every year, see figure 1. While some challenges do exist in getting started, LNB size provides ample space for an activity like shellfish aquaculture, which would start eutrophication reduction immediately, increase water clarity and provide a usable

Taking what I learned from my Design Engineering class, I am designing a second aquaponics system for use at the school in Ghana. It will be built over the course of my two week trip. As a way to grow plants with 90% less water than traditional farming and with a fraction the space, aquaponics is a viable solution for providing the sub-saharan school with extra proteins and micronutrients. It doesn't matter if the land there is unfarmable or if it rarely rains, aquaponics is a way for people all over the globe to produce fresh fish and produce despite having inadequate resources of fertile land and

In his article ‘Puppies, Pigs, and People Eating and Marginal Cases’, Norcross makes the argument that buying factory raised meat and eating it can be morally compared to obtaining puppies and torturing them to extract cocoamone hormone for gustatory pleasure. He also states that meat-eaters that come to this realization should turn vegetarian. According to people who disagree with Norcross, they argue the fact that factory farmed animals are not puppies, most consumers do not torture or kill the factory farmed meat, and becoming vegetarian will not really make an impact and prevent animal suffering. If majority of the US population switched their diet to become vegetarian, there would be less animal suffering and would lead to a big impact

I couldn’t believe what I was watching, it was very interesting. It covered many topics that had to do with the earth and pollution. It mostly had to do mostly with animal farming and how the world wasn’t doing anything at all to help and fix the situation. Cows and pigs would grow on the acres and feed awhile bunch so they could become big. It was so they could gain more meat so when they were slaughtered there would be more meat. The animals are used to gain slot of profit since people tend to like meat.

The definition of aquaculture is simply the farming of fish, plants and shellfish as well as many more aquatic organisms. Aquaculture refers to the cultivation of freshwater and marine species, and includes land based and opens ocean production. Aquaculture can be compared with commercial fishing, aquaculture involves cultivating of fresh and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, while commercial fishing is the harvesting of wild aquatic creatures and can be seen more as a form of “hunting and gathering”.

The aquaponic system we will be utilizing is the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) system. This system is well studied and proven to work well with Tilapia, our fish of choice. Aquaponics not only yields better

Fish farms and aquaculture in the US have come under scrutiny in the past decade because people are unsure of what they are eating. Fish farms fall under the large umbrella term of aquaculture. Dictionary.com defines aquaculture as “the cultivation of aquatic animals and plants, especially fish, shellfish, and seaweed, in natural or controlled marine or freshwater environments.” This practice has evolved over centuries and exploded in the 1970’s, becoming the number one producer of fish worldwide over wild caught fish. In truth, aquaculture in the US provides fish that contains the same or less contaminants than wild caught fish. Aquaculture also provides many advantages over conventional commercial fishing, such as superior sustainability and consistency. These advantages cause aquaculture to continue expanding everywhere and provide many jobs for the American people. With the growth of the aquaculture industry, the US will be able to produce more seafood and reduce the amount of imported fish. While the aquaculture industry in the United States suffers from some drawbacks, it also provides many benefits, such as an increased supply of healthy fish, increased productivity, and economic benefits. These benefits outweigh the drawbacks of aquaculture and the industry should continue to grow in the future with the support of the American population.

Is animal husbandry in Texas sustainable in relation to fresh water use and water contamination?

Another global effect of overfishing is fish farming or aquaculture. It was first started to help preserve the ocean and hoped to help people to obtain a reliable fish source. Unfortunately, what many came to realize is the downside of fish farming. One example is water contamination, where consequently waste products such as foods eaten, feces and other dead fish, are all dumped into our main water supply which contributes to water pollution. Moreover, chemicals that are used to treat the fish farms like antibiotics and algaecides are all released into the ocean; which is a real cause for concern for our oceans. Fish that come from the fish farms are pumped full of drugs, to prevent sickness in the fish but this is not healthy for us to eat. There is also a great environmental impact which includes the fact that to sustain fish farms, portions of

In today’s global economy sustainability is very important; from the biological aspect to the industries they all play a role on the marine environment. As world population increases the demand of fish rises causing overfishing. Certain laws have been placed to limit the amount of wild fishing to reduce the risk of endangerment. To meet the demand of the population, fish farms are introduced. Pollution and health related issues are part of the challenges of fish farming. Sustainability also affects social areas such as beaches.