Evaluation of carrying capacity for shrimp pond culture with integrated bioremediation techniques

Abstract

The integrated multi‐trophic aquaculture (IMTA) is a semi‐artificial habitat optimization ecosystem by co‐culture species from multiple trophic levels, in which farm waste produced by species of a higher trophic level is a nutrition source for species of a lower trophic level. However, in system construction it is essential to distinguish the roles of aquaculture organisms from different trophic levels and optimize the aquaculture capacity allocation. With this objective, a carrying capacity evaluation model for shrimp culture with integrated bioremediation techniques was developed, and the efficiency to repair the aquaculture pond environment was evaluated. Scenario simulations were conducted to assess the shrimp culture capacity for optimal economic and ecological benefits. The sensitivity analysis of the model indicated that changes in bivalve biomass had no significant impacts on the concentration of total nitrogen (TN) in the system, and macroalgae were more sensitive to the changes in TN than biofilters did. In conclusion, 1,500,000 Litopenaeus vannamei co‐cultured with 15,000 kg Crassostrea gigas and 1,125 kg Gracilaria lemaneiformis per hectare would bring maximum integrated benefit, and the use of integrated bioremediation techniques can make shrimp pond culture a virtuous cycle incorporating both production and restoration.

Assessment of the Carrying Capacity of Integrated Pond Aquaculture of Portunus trituberculatus at the Ecosystem Level

“…In this study, carrying capacity was evaluated using Ecopath models of two integrated pond aquaculture ecosystems based on ecosystem stability (EE ≤ 1) combined with artificial feeding. In existing pond carrying capacity assessment studies, the individual biological parameters, the water environment, and economic profit are the main indicators of carrying capacity (Dai et al, 2019;Song et al, 2020). In integrated pond aquaculture ecosystems with small water bodies, the carrying capacity is related to various factors, such as the aquaculture animal species, pond facilities, and aquaculture technology.…”

“…Ecosystem model studies have focused on bivalve culture systems (Ferreira et al, 2008;Silva et al, 2011;Gao et al, 2020). To date, no other ecosystem models have been developed for the carrying capacity assessment of pond aquaculture, except for two preliminary models to assess the carrying capacity of shrimp pond culture with integrated bioremediation techniques and intertidal mangrove planting-aquaulture (Xu et al, 2011;Song et al, 2020).…”

Recovering wasted nutrients from shrimp farming through the combined culture of polychaetes and halophytes

“…The integration of multiple species from different trophic levels in the same IMTA design allows to recover particulate and dissolved nutrients in the form of valuable biomass of these extra crops. This has been previously described in studies addressing the combined use of bivalves and seaweeds [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] , bivalves and microalgae 24 , bivalves and halophytes 25 , echinoderms and seaweeds 26 , polychaetes and seaweeds 27 and polychaetes and halophytes 11 . More than 50% of these studies were performed in the time-period between 2015 and 2020 evidencing that this is currently a hot-topic in aquaculture.…”

Enhanced growth of the pleasure oyster Crassostrea corteziensis cultured under integrated multi‐trophic aquaculture ( IMTA ) concept, using farm effluents of shrimp Penaeus vannamei

“…IMTA systems are based on the simultaneous culture of species from different trophic levels to utilize the nutrients generated by production operations such as those shrimp farm by products (Knowler et al, 2020). IMTA are normally integrated by; (1) a fed aquaculture species such as shrimp and fish, (2) organic nutrients (particulate organic matter) extractive species like bivalves, and (3) an inorganic nutrients extractive species such macroalgae and mangroves (Song et al, 2020; Soto, 2009). IMTA improves the use of nutrients to avoid eutrophication of the nearby ecosystem and increases the diversity of marketable products (Soto, 2009).…”