On the Cover Images from left to right Methane flame generated from waste captured by RAS. Photo courtesy of Dr. Yonathan Zohar at UMBI Center Of Marine Biotechnology Lettuce and other vegetables growing in RAS aquaponic tanks at UVI. Photo courtesy of Dr. James Rakocy at the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Croix. Shrimp produced in a RAS facility at Blue Ridge Aquaculture. Photo courtesy of Mr. Martin Gardner from Blue Ridge Aquaculture in Martinsville, VA. Nile tilapia, a species often produced in RAS. RAS tanks for raising tilapia. Photo courtesy of Dr. Martin Schreibman at Brooklyn College, CUNY, Aquatic Research Environmental ssessment Center (AREAC) This report is a joint project of the Alliance for Sustainable Aquaculture and Food & Water Watch. About the Alliance for Sustainable Aquaculture Alliance for Sustainable Aquaculture (ASA) is a collaborative group of researchers, business owners, non-profit organizations and interested members of the public working to further Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) in the United States through research, education, legislative work and advocacy. We believe that RAS, closed-looped and biosecure aquaculture operations, are the best option to meet our country’s need for a clean, green, sustainable, healthy seafood source to supplement our wild fisheries. 1616 P St. NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 tel: (202) 683-2500 fax: (202) 683-2501 [email protected] www.foodandwaterwatch.org/asa About Food & Water Watch Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer organization that works to ensure clean water and safe food. We chal- lenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink. Food & Water Watch works with grassroots or- ganizations around the world to create an economically and environmentally viable future. Through research, public and policymaker education, media and lobbying, we advocate policies that guarantee safe, wholesome food produced in a humane and sustainable manner, and public, rather than private, control of water resources including oceans, rivers and groundwater. Main Office California Office 1616 P St. NW, Suite 300 25 Stillman Street, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20036 San Francisco, CA 94107 tel: (202) 683-2500 tel: (415) 293-9900 fax: (202) 683-2501 fax: (415) 293-9908 [email protected] [email protected] www.foodandwaterwatch.org Copyright © September 2009 by Food & Water Watch. All rights reserved. This report can be viewed or downloaded at www.foodandwaterwatch.org. LAND-BASED RECIRCULATING AQUACULTURE SYSTEMS a more sustainable approach to aquaculture Table of Contents iv Executive Summary 1 Introduction 1 What Is RAS? 2 Types of RAS: Freshwater and Saltwater 3 Why RAS Can Be an Important Fish Production Method for the United States 4 RAS Factors 8 Research and Development 10 Future Improvements 12 Specific Commercial Case Studies 13 Conclusion 14 Endnotes Executive Summary This report, Land-Based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems, provides an introduction to Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS). RAS are closed-loop fish farming facilities that retain and treat water within the systems. This form of land-based aquaculture is quickly gaining popularity in the United States. Land-Based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems addresses why RAS could be an important method of producing more fish for the United States; highlights research, development and technical innovations in RAS; and discusses concerns and recommendations for the future of these systems. Land-Based Recirculating Aquaculture Systems also provides commercial case studies of existing successful RAS operations in the United States. Consumer demand for cleaner, greener, safer seafood is on the rise. Many popular fish, like tuna, cod and certain snapper are depleted in the wild from many years of poor management, overfishing and other ecological problems like pollution and damage to key habitat areas. There is a need to supplement wild-caught fish to meet consumer demand for seafood. One method to produce more fish is known broadly as aquaculture — the rearing of aquatic animals in captivity. Aquaculture is also often called “fish farming,” as it can be likened to the farming of other food animals, like chickens, pigs and cattle. Aquaculture is increasing worldwide; between 2004 and 2006 the annual growth rate of this industry was 6.1 percent in volume and 11 percent in value. Widespread open-water fish farming methods, such as coastal ponds and open-ocean aquaculture (OOA), can seri- ously damage marine ecosystems and are far from providing the safe and sustainable seafood many consumers want. In particular, OOA — the mass production of fish in huge floating net pens or cages in open ocean waters — raises concerns about consumer safety, pollution of the marine environment and conflicts with other ocean uses. Fortunately, RAS can likely provide a cleaner, greener, safer alternative to open-water farms that does not compete with other ocean uses. These systems are usually land-based and reuse virtually all of the water initially put into the system. As a result, RAS can reduce the discharge of waste and the need for antibiotics or chemicals used to combat disease and fish and parasite escapes — all serious concerns raised with open-water aquaculture. RAS provide a diversity of production options. Tilapia, catfish, black seabass, salmon, shrimp, clams and oysters are just a few examples of what can be raised in these systems. RAS can also be operated in tandem with aquaponics — the practice of growing plants using water rather than soil — to produce a variety of herbs, fruits and vegetables such as basil, okra, lettuce, tomatoes and melons. RAS range from small-scale urban aquaculture systems in individual homes to larger, commercial-scale farms that can produce fish and produce equaling millions of dollars in sales each year. Currently, research and development is being conducted at academic, government and business facilities across the country to continuously improve the techniques and methods used in RAS. With innovations in waste management systems, fish feeds and energy usage, RAS has the potential to be a truly safe and sustainable aquaculture industry. In recent years, the U.S. government has been shockingly insistent that development of open-water aquaculture, in particular ocean aquaculture, is the best way to have an increased seafood supply in the United States. Given the many ecological concerns associated with OOA, rather, the United States should be looking to explore more sus- tainable fish production, such as RAS. This report challenges natural resource managers and consumers to be more active in helping to promote a cleaner, greener, safer domestic seafood supply by learning more about RAS and re- questing grocery stores and restaurants carry RAS products rather than those from open-water aquaculture systems. Alliance for Sustainable Aquaculture and Food & Water Watch Lettuce and other vegetables growing in RAS aquaponic tanks at UVI. Photo courtesy of Dr. James Rakocy at the University of the Virgin Islands in St. Croix. Introduction onsumer demand for cleaner, greener, safer seafood is on the rise. Popular species Cof wild fish are depleted,1 leaving many people looking to aquaculture to help meet the demand for seafood. Aquaculture production — the rearing of aquatic plants and animals in captivity — is increasing worldwide; between 2004 and 2006 the annual growth rate was 6.1 percent in volume and 11 percent in value.2 There are many forms of aquaculture; recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), coastal ponds and open- water net pens are a few major types. Open-water aquaculture systems are, as they sound, open to air and water, and can therefore have a risk of air- or water-borne contaminants.3 RAS are closed, controlled, bio-secure systems that retain and treat water within the system, reducing the risk of contamination from air- and water-borne contaminants. What Is RAS? Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) are closed- Various methods can be used to clean the water from the loop facilities that retain and treat the water within the fish tanks and make it reusable. Some RAS fish farms system. The water in RAS flows from a fish tank through incorporate aquaponics — the practice of growing herbs a treatment process and is then returned to the tank, and vegetables in water — into their system. Plants need 4 hence the term recirculating aquaculture systems. RAS 13 elements to grow; the wastewater from the fish tanks can be designed to be very environmentally sustainable, naturally provides 10 of these elements.7 The plants using 90-99 percent less water than other aquaculture thrive in the nutrient-rich system water, and they actu- 5 systems. RAS can reduce the discharge of waste, the ally help to purify it for reuse — the plants absorb the need for antibiotics or chemicals used to combat disease, nutrients and the “cleaned” water can go back to the fish and fish and parasite escapes. RAS have been under tanks! development for the over 30 years, refining techniques and methods to increase production, profitability and environmental sustainability.6 1 Land-Based Recirculating Aquaculture: A More Sustainable Approach to Aquaculture An example of a small-scale RAS. Types of RAS: Freshwater and Photo by Eileen Flynn Saltwater the prevalence of carbon dioxide within these systems Recirculating aquaculture systems can be divided into and provide a food source to developing fish. two main categories: freshwater and saltwater opera- tions. Each of these can be paired with specific technolo- Saltwater RAS gies designed to maximize efficiency within the system, minimize effluent discharge and occasionally to work in Saltwater RAS can take several forms as well, and are a symbiotic relationship with other technologies, re- sometimes referred to as marine RAS. One type of sys- viewed in brief below. tem that has been researched extensively in recent years is the high-rate algal pond, or HRAP.