Farm-Scale Production Models

Abstract

Farm-scale production models of bivalves have been used for site selection, optimization of culture practices, and the estimation of ecosystem goods and services. While all farm models require physical forcing through hydrodynamic models, the input of measured or modelled bivalve growth drivers, and a bioenergetic growth model which predicts individual growth and farm yield as a function of husbandry practices, some models are also embedded in a GIS system to allow for a "point and click" ability to test different locations and production strategies at various locations within the modeled domain. More generic Web-based models such as the Farm Aquaculture Resource Management are relatively simple to use, provide a link to larger ecosystem models, and provide direct estimates of ecosystem services. More detailed models, such as ShellGIS, may be more data intensive and require detailed bathymetry, spatial velocity fields, information about boundary layer and aquaculture structure hydrodynamics and particle depletion. However, these models provide the detailed spatial and temporal results that can optimize farm productivity and assess benthic impacts. New approaches using high resolution remote sensing satellites and powerful physical-biogeochemical models using unstructured grids to link farm scale models with ecosystem models in a GIS platform have potential to provide improvements in the utility of farm scale models for the estimation of bivalve aquaculture ecosystem goods and services.

A biotechnological expansion of shellfish cultivation could permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

“…This is unlikely to be easy because of perception that expansion of the shellfish industry could have negative environmental effects on coastal waters by exceeding the population size the environment can sustain (carrying capacity). There are also concerns about social issues (aesthetic loss) and a supposed "loss of nature" (Newell, 2007;Newell et al, 2019;Smaal & van Duren, 2019). Such perceived negative environmental effects are not unique to shellfish cultivation and certainly have their parallels in large-scale tree planting (use of scarce agricultural land, loss of biodiversity in monocultures, as noted above).…”

“… existing aquaculture farming methods to adapt them to wider ranges of sites and locations (Newell et al, 2019) [imagine a mussel farm on every offshore wind turbine, every oil and gas rig, every pier, wharf and jetty, every breakwater or harbour wall]. Again, not easy: other people have rights, privileges, ownerships and fears and prejudices.…”

A Social-Ecological System Framework for Marine Aquaculture Research

“…In near shore systems, growing areas can be linked by tidal processes, estuarine circulation, and wind [35]. Increasingly, farmers use hydrodynamic models that account for these processes to minimize connection between farms [36,37]. Location (RS8) refers to the spatial and temporal placement of the species grown by actors (A).…”

“…Selectively breeding bivalves for higher resistance to diseases is another example of how aquaculture can contribute to ecological resilience [104,105]. A production system can depend on internal transport of nutrients, food, and waste for bivalve or macroalgae production, although anthropogenic inputs can be fundamental in determining the overall structure, function, and outputs from production systems [37,106]. Thus, depending on its configuration, marine aquaculture can reduce or enhance ecosystem resilience [107].…”

An introduction to assessments

“…This includes farm models, spatial models, food web models, benthic models and habitat models. See also Newell et al (2019), Grant and Pastres (2019), Ferreira et al (2019) and Bacher et al (2019) this volume.…”