8 iNTERNATIONAL fILE Rationale for Developing Integrated Multi-trophic (IMTA): an example from Canada Thierry Chopin1 and Shawn Robinson2 MARINE aquaculture in Canada is still 66.7% of the tonnage of the aquaculture at an early stage of development after al- industry and 74.7% of its farmgate value. most three decades of expansion. It is still The traditional view of diversification relatively small on a worldwide scale (0.17 often involves producing a second prod- versus 27.68 million tonnes in 2002), but uct that is similar to the first and fits significant on a local scale. For example, into the existing production and market- in New Brunswick, it is the first agro-food ing systems. In finfish aquaculture, this sector of the province (valued at has usually meant salmon, cod, haddock CDN$188.2 million versus CDN$169.1 or halibut. However, from an ecological million for and CDN$101.2 mil- point of view, these are all “shades of the lion for potatoes in 2003). The finfish same colour”. True ecological diversifi- aquaculture sector in Canada plans to con- cation means a change in trophic level tinue to grow in production after leveling (i.e. switching from finfish to another off in recent years, but is currently debat- group of organisms such as , ing how it can do so in a responsible, sus- seaweeds, worms, bacteria, etc.). Staying tainable, and profitable way. at the same ecological trophic level will As the volume of production goes up, not address environmental issues be- the cost of production usually goes down cause the system will remain unbalanced due to implementation of automated and no recycling of nutrients will occur. technologies and economies of scale. In Since the costs of physiological metabo- Photo: Manav Sawhney. a commodity market, this usually results Blue (Mytilus edulis) raft and a mussel lism are high for any organism, single in lower prices to the consumer and lower sock grown next to Atlantic salmon (Salmo species systems are doomed to ineffi- margins for the producers due to compe- salar) cages at an integrated multi-trophic ciency. Economic diversification should aquaculture (IMTA) site in the Bay of Fundy, tition from other large-scale producers. Canada. also mean looking at from a dif- The result of this expansion is that more ferent angle. Aquaculture products on profits (to either the owners or the in- the scope for geographic expansion will the market today are similar to those vestors) can only be realized from the be limited for existing monoculture tech- obtained from the traditional of production side by increasing volume. In nologies and practices. yesterday and thus are often in direct the fixed spatial area of a farm, this gen- If the expansion of finfish aquaculture competition. While this may be part of erally results in pushing the environmen- is limited in spatial extent by biological the market forces at work, the opportu- tal carrying capacity to the limit. Main- and social factors, one obvious solution nity exists to diversify from filets (or taining sustainability, not only from an is to increase the production from exist- and ) on a plate in a res- environmental, but also from economic, ing sites. When considering the seawater taurant, to a large untapped array of social and technical perspectives, has volume available at a lease site and the bioactive compounds of marine origin become a key issue. What are, then, the volume of water actually occupied by (e.g. pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, options for facing these challenges? salmon cages, it is noticeable that a cul- functional foods, cosmeceuticals, Geographical expansion is still possible tivation unit is not optimized. More ad- botanicals, pigments, agrichemicals, in some areas (for example, Newfound- vanced technology will thus be a prereq- biostimulants, etc.). Research and devel- land and British Columbia), but for how uisite for intensification. As with the is- opment on alternative species should no long? There is only a finite amount of ap- sue of concentrated housing for humans, longer be considered as R&D on alterna- propriate space. In New Brunswick, site there will have to be a high degree of liv- tive finfish species, but rather on alter- access and availability are already limited ing space for organisms, and efficient native marine products. and public resistance is growing against systems for food delivery, waste treat- Changes in attitudes are also needed. further expansion of the current ment, and energy supply. Consequently, There is a paradoxical situation when aquaculture model. Moving from shel- intensification will require: 1) innovative looking at worldwide food production. In tered nearshore sites to exposed nearshore and environmentally friendly technolo- agriculture, 80% of the production is sites and offshore sites has been contem- gies, 2) new and better management made up of plants and 20% of meat, while plated, but technical and economic chal- practices and codes, and 3) recognizing in aquaculture, 80% of the production is lenges remain, especially in regions where aquaculture within a broader integrated meat and 20% is plants. Regarding the coastal zone is already used by many coastal management framework. , production is made up of other traditional stakeholders. Offshore Diversification of the Canadian aquac- 46.2% molluscs, 44% seaweeds, 8.7% development, proposed by some as the ulture industry is also imperative to re- finfish, 1.0% crustaceans, and 0.1% vari- next frontier in aquaculture, is not nec- duce the economic risk and maintain ous other animals. In many parts of the essarily the appropriate solution for all re- competitiveness. In 2004, the salmon world, aquaculture is not synonymous gions. It is obvious that, sooner or later, aquaculture in Canada represented with finfish aquaculture, as many peo- 20 Fish Farmer January/February 2006 www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

FF01p20-21.p65 20 1/5/2006, 3:58 PM iNTERNATIONAL fILE 9 ple in affluent western countries believe. sustainability, long-term profitability and economic and social advantages of the In a global market economy, we need to responsible management of coastal wa- concept, which will be key to convincing be aware of the other food production ters. It will also necessitate a change in practitioners of monospecific aquacul- systems in the rest of the world if we the attitude of consumers towards eat- ture to move towards IMTA practices. To want to understand our present system ing products cultured in the marine en- move from the R&D pilot scale to the and correctly position it in perspective vironment, in the same way that they scale-up commercial stage, some federal with other systems. accept eating products from recycling and and provincial regulations and policies The challenge, then, is how to increase organic production systems on land, for need to be changed or they will be im- the production capacity of an existing site which they are willing to pay a higher pediments to industry. We are presently when the available options have shown their limitations. One of the possible answers is to increase the level of tech- nology involved in the production of sea- food so that food and waste handling sys- tems are all actively considered in the growing operation from the start, and are modelled after natural ecosystems. One of the innovative solutions our R&D group is actively developing for environ- mental sustainability, economic diversi- fication and social acceptability, is inte- grated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA). This practice combines, in the right proportions, the cultivation of fed Photo: Shawn Robinson. Harvesting of kelp (Laminaria saccharina) cultivated in proximity to Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) aquaculture species (e.g. finfish) with at an integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) site in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. organic extractive aquaculture species (e.g. shellfish) and inorganic extractive price. working with the Department of Fisher- aquaculture species (e.g. seaweed), for a Our interdisciplinary team of scientists ies and Oceans (DFO), the Canadian Food balanced ecosystem management ap- from the University of New Brunswick Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Environ- proach that takes into consideration site and the Department of Fisheries and ment Canada (EC) on amending the Ca- specificity, operational limits, and food Oceans has been working on a salmon/ nadian Shellfish Sanitation Program safety guidelines and regulations. The mussel/kelp IMTA project in the Bay of (CSSP), based on the recent and reliable aim is to increase long-term Fundy since 2001 with the support of data and information provided by our sustainability and profitability per culti- AquaNet, the Canadian Network of Cen- project and other similar ones. vation unit (not per species in isolation, tres of Excellence for Aquaculture. This The appropriate financial tools condu- as is done in monoculture), as the wastes project, like several others in different cive to the development of IMTA will also of one component (finfish) are captured parts of the world (e.g. Chile, Israel, Scot- have to be put in place. It is important to and converted into fertilizer, food and land, the USA, South Africa, Australia), note that present aquaculture business energy for the other components (sea- is on the verge of making the biological models do not consider and recognize the weed and shellfish), which can in turn demonstration of the validity of the economic value (valued-added crops and be sold on the market as other marine IMTA concept (e.g. significant increases environmental services) of bio- crops. In this way, all the cultivation com- of kelp and mussel production (46% and remediation by biofilters, as there are no ponents have economic value, and each 50%, respectively) in proximity to salmon costs associated with aquaculture dis- has a key role in services and recycling sites due to a more beneficial use/conver- charge/effluent in open seawater-based processes of the system. sion of food and energy; advantages of systems. Regulatory and financial incen- The paradox is that IMTA is not a new environmental services through tives may therefore be required to clearly concept. Asian countries, which provide bioremediation and diversification of the recognize the benefits of the extractive more than two-thirds of the world’s aqua- crops; absence of transfer of components of IMTA systems (shellfish culture production, have been practicing therapeutants and chemicals used in and seaweed). A better estimate of the IMTA for centuries. A renewed interest salmon aquaculture to the kelps and overall cost/benefits to nature and soci- in IMTA practices emerged in western mussels). ety of aquaculture waste and its mitiga- countries in the late 1980s and early The next step in our project is the scal- tion would create powerful financial and 1990s, based on the common-sense ap- ing up of operations with our industrial regulatory incentives to governments proach that the solution to nutrification and government partners (Cooke Aqua- and the industry to jointly invest in the is not dilution, but conversion within an culture Inc., Acadian Seaplants Limited, IMTA approach. ecosystem-based management perspec- Ocean Nutrition Canada, the Canadian 1 tive. The determination to develop IMTA Food Inspection Agency, the Atlantic University of New Brunswick, Centre for Coastal Studies and Aquaculture, Centre for Environmental and systems will, however, only come about Canada Opportunities Agency, and the Molecular Algal Research, P.O. Box 5050, Saint John, N.B., if there are visionary changes in politi- New Brunswick Innovation Foundation) E2L 4L5, Canada. cal, social, and economic reasoning. This to make the biological demonstration at 2Department of Fisheries and Oceans, 531 Brandy Cove will be accomplished by seeking a commercial scale, and to document the Road, St. Andrews, N.B., E5B 2L9, Canada. Fish Farmer January/February 2006 21 www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

FF01p20-21.p65 21 1/5/2006, 3:58 PM