Highlights

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Methods

3. Results

4. Discussion and conclusion

5. Future of the aquaculture PFSC after the shock: the long path toward resilience

Declaration of Competing Interest

Acknowledgements

Author contributions

Competing interests

Appendix A. Supplementary material

References

Abstract

The COVID-19 global pandemic has had severe, unpredictable and synchronous impacts on all levels of perishable food supply chains (PFSC), across multiple sectors and spatial scales. Aquaculture plays a vital and rapidly expanding role in food security, in some cases overtaking wild caught fisheries in the production of high-quality animal protein in this PFSC. We performed a rapid global assessment to evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related emerging control measures on the aquaculture supply chain. Socio-economic effects of the pandemic were analysed by surveying the perceptions of stakeholders, who were asked to describe potential supply-side disruption, vulnerabilities and resilience patterns along the production pipeline with four main supply chain components: a) hatchery, b) production/processing, c) distribution/logistics and d) market. We also assessed different farming strategies, comparing land- vs. sea-based systems; extensive vs. intensive methods; and with and without integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, IMTA. In addition to evaluating levels and sources of economic distress, interviewees were asked to identify mitigation solutions adopted at local / internal (i.e., farm-site) scales, and to express their preference on national / external scale mitigation measures among a set of a priori options. Survey responses identified the potential causes of disruption, ripple effects, sources of food insecurity, and socio-economic conflicts. They also pointed to various levels of mitigation strategies. The collated evidence represents a first baseline useful to address future disaster-driven responses, to reinforce the resilience of the sector and to facilitate the design reconstruction plans and mitigation measures, such as financial aid strategies.

1. Introduction

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), COVID-19, as a pandemic. Since it was first recognized the virus spread rapidly and globally, causing millions of deaths. In a fight against time to slow the spread and to contain the severe deadly outbreak across the planet, national governments have made enormous efforts, by imposing containment and suppression measures with varying degrees of rapidity and strictness (Guan et al., 2020) with people experiencing unprecedented disruptions to their daily lives. Cumulatively, these responses, aimed at preventing the spread COVID-19, had clear direct and indirect effects on global economic productivity (FAO and CELAC, 2020).

Highlights

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Methods

2.1. Review of literature

2.2. Online questionnaires

3. Results

3.1. Literature review results

3.2. Dictionary review results

3.3. Questionnaire results

3.4. Additional comments from stakeholder feedback

4. Discussion

5. Conclusion

Ethics statement

Declaration of Competing Interest

Acknowledgements

References

Abstract

‘Offshore’ aquaculture has gained increased attention as a potential route of expanding production of commercially important finfish species such as Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). However, there is a lack of clarity about the term ‘offshore’ and how different ‘offshore’ environments are, compared to more traditional coastal or inshore locations. This uncertainty is an issue for effective governance and regulation and is a bottleneck for development that must be addressed. This study used a mixed method approach to evaluate what is meant by ‘offshore’ production and determine if existing approaches are suitable for licensing and regulating ‘offshore’ salmon aquaculture in Scotland, as a case study. First, a systematic literature review was used to assess academic studies and then an online questionnaire was used to gather views from salmon aquaculture stakeholders in Scotland and other countries. The results show there is inconsistency in what is perceived by the term ‘offshore’ aquaculture, making it challenging to determine a global definition. Literature, which was not limited to salmon production, tended to focus on distance from the coast but salmon aquaculture stakeholders had very mixed views, though a slight majority considered wave exposure was the key characteristic. The stakeholders indicated there may be a number of benefits of ‘offshore’ salmon aquaculture, but also suggested that existing regulations are not appropriate for ‘offshore’ salmon production and could be enhanced. The study results suggest that regulators and stakeholders need to agree on consistent terminology that characterises the production environment.

1. Introduction

Coastal regions are highly productive and an important resource for food production through aquaculture and fisheries. However, there is considerable competition and conflict from other users, so space for expansion of aquaculture is often limited (Sanchez-Jerez et al., 2016). Such constraints could affect contributions to global food supply as demand for aquatic products continues to rise (FAO, 2018). Thus, in many areas, if the aquaculture industry is to grow and increase production, there is a need to consider other locations. One of the alternatives to coastal farms is the use of so called ‘offshore’ sites, and consequently ‘offshore’ aquaculture has gained increased attention in recent years for both fish and shellfish (Jansen et al., 2016; Gentry et al., 2016; Barill´e et al., 2020). In 2010 the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) held a workshop that classified mariculture into three categories based on site location (coastal, off the coast and offshore). The expert group defined mariculture as “offshore when it is located > 2 km or out of sight from the coast, in water depths > 50 m, with waves heights of 5 m or more, ocean swells, variable winds and strong ocean currents, in locations that are exposed (open sea, e.g. ≥ 180◦ open) and where there is a requirement for remote operations, automated feeding, and where remote monitoring of operating system may be required” (Lovatelli et al., 2013). This definition is prescriptive and consequently only relevant at present to few existing or exploited sites.

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Evolution of China’s distant water fisheries and management policy

3. Challenges of the development and management policy of China’s distant water fisheries

4. Prospects of the development and management policy of China’s distant water fisheries

5. Conclusion

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Declaration of Competing Interest

Acknowledgements

References

Abstract

China’s distant water fisheries management policy has made significant contributions to the development of distant water fisheries since 1985. Analyzing the evolution of China’s distant water fisheries management policy is conducive to solving China’s frequent IUU problems and promoting further development of sustainable fisheries. This paper first summarizes how China’s distant water fisheries management policy has evolved, which can be divided into four stages: the start-up period (1985–1990), the rapid development period (1991–1997), the sustainable development period (1998–2007), and the optimization and adjustment period (2008-present). Then the characteristics of current distant water fisheries management are summarized, including how management has adapted to international rules, emphasize sustainable fisheries, diversification and facilitation of management methods. China’s distant water fisheries management policy still faces severe challenges in terms of technology, marine rights, management system, industrial structure, and employee capabilities. Finally, this paper highlights the importance of attaching importance to science and technology, re-evaluating distant water fisheries subsidies based on environmental policies and IUU activities, establishing a polycentric governance mechanism with stakeholders at the core, improving the supervision system, and establishing overseas distant water fisheries bases to strengthen international cooperation.

1. Introduction

China has been the world’s largest fishing country since 1990, which is mainly due to overexploitation of offshore fishery resources (Xue, 2006; Yang et al., 2016). In recent years, the depletion of offshore fishery resources and the deterioration of the marine environment caused by overfishing have severely restricted the development of China’s fisheries (Zhao and Shen, 2016; Ding et al., 2020; Kang et al., 2018). Therefore, the development of distant water fisheries and aquaculture has become an important way to reduce the pressure of overfishing in China (Liu et al., 2014). In addition, as a strategic industry, distant water fisheries are of great significance for meeting the domestic demand for high-quality aquatic products, ensuring food security, increasing fishermen’s income, and promoting the development of the fishery economy (Mallory, 2013; Zhang et al., 2019; Yue et al., 2016).

About 90 % of the world’s fish stocks have been over exploited or are fully developed, but there is still potentials for distant water fisheries resources, especially small pelagic fish, cephalopods and Antarctic krill (FAO, 2016; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, 2012). Although the industrial fishing of Antarctic krill is controversial, the Chinese government regards the harvesting of Antarctic krill as one of its important strategies for distant water fisheries (Schiermeier, 2010; Tang and Shi, 2010; Nicol and Foster, 2016). Accurate resource assessment, effective catch control and sound fishery management are essential for sustainable fisheries (Nicol et al., 2012). In 2019, China had 170 distant water fisheries enterprises, operating 2654 distant water fishing vessels, and the output of distant water fisheries was 2.257 million tons. The scale and total output of the fishing fleet were among the highest in the world. China has become an important distant water fishing nation (DWFN) (Chesnokova and McWhinnie, 2019). In 2017, among the seven principal tuna species1 in the world, the fraction of the stocks at biologically sustainable levels was 66.6 percent, which has increased by ten percent compared with 2015. It proves that fisheries management is effective (FAO, 2020). If China’s distant water fisheries can achieve reasonable management, it will make a significant contribution to the world’s marine fisheries.ش

Highlights

Abstract

Keywords

1. The rationale and the early days

2. The glorious seventies – The birth of our family

3. From then onward

4. GnRHs – The basic and the applied

5. A few concluding thoughts

Acknowledgements

References

Abstract

Driven by the broad diversity of species and physiologies and by reproduction-related bottlenecks in aquaculture, the field of fish reproductive biology has rapidly grown over the last five decades. This review provides my perspective on the field during this period, integrating fundamental and applied developments and milestones. Our basic understanding of the brain-pituitary–gonadal axis led to overcoming the failure of farmed fish to ovulate and spawn in captivity, allowing us to close the fish life cycle and establish a predictable, year-round production of eggs. Dissecting the molecular and hormonal mechanisms associated with sex determination and differentiation drove technologies for producing better performing mono-sex and reproductively-sterile fish. The growing contingent of passionate fish biologists, together with the availability of innovative platforms such as transgenesis and gene editing, as well as new models such as the zebrafish and medaka, have generated many discoveries, also leading to new insights of reproductive biology in higher vertebrates including humans. Consequently, fish have now been widely accepted as vertebrate reproductive models. Perhaps the best testament of the progress in our discipline is demonstrated at the International Symposia on Reproductive Physiology of Fish (ISRPF), at which our scientific family has convened every four years since the grandfather of the field, the late Ronald Billard, organized the inaugural 1977 meeting in Paimpont, France. As the one person who has been fortunate enough to attend all of these meetings since their inception, I have witnessed first-hand the astounding evolution of our field as we capitalized on the molecular and biotechnological revolutions in the life sciences, which enabled us to provide a higher resolution of fish reproductive and endocrine processes, answer more questions, and dive into deeper comprehension. Undoubtedly, the next (five) decades will be similarly exciting as we continue to integrate physiology with genomics, basic and translational research, and the small fish models with the aquacultured species.

1. The rationale and the early days
Growing up I was fascinated by the sea, and I always wanted to be a marine biologist engaged in research that would explore ocean life to the benefit of society. Following this childhood passion, I studied biology as an undergraduate and in 1974 I enrolled in an Oceanography MSc program, both at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. At that time, we already knew that the world was headed for a major fishery crisis, as overfishing was rampant and marine/coastal pollution was adversely impacting the spawning grounds of many marine species. When it was time to choose my Master’s thesis research topic, I decided to pursue marine aquaculture, which back then was in its infancy. The first bottleneck to be resolved in finfish aquaculture was the inability of many commercially important marine fish to reproduce reliably when raised in captivity. The budding mariculture industry had to rely on harvesting wild juvenile fish or broodstock, transporting them to the farming operation and growing them to harvest size (for juveniles) or stripping them to obtain eggs and sperm for the production of fertilized eggs, larvae and juveniles (for broodstock). These were, of course, very unreliable and unpredictable practices, as wild juveniles/broodstock were only available seasonally for a limited time, and in some years they could not be found at all. This led me (and several others in the field) to study fish reproductive biology and endocrinology, with the eventual goal of enabling predictable reproduction in captive fish and closing their life cycles. We hypothesized that fish do not reproduce in captivity because they do not experience the conditions of a spawning ground, and that the absence of these environmental conditions, which are difficult/impossible to simulate in captivity, causes a hormonal failure that is responsible for the lack of captive reproduction.

Highlights

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Conceptual framework

3. Methodology

4. Analysis

5. Results

6. Discussion

7. Conclusion

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Declaration of competing interest

Acknowledgements

Appendix A. Supplementary data

References

Abstract

Despite their ecological and economic importance, mangroves have suffered degradation in West-Africa, mostly from anthropogenic activities. To sustainably and successfully manage natural resources in complex social-ecological systems (SES), it is important to take into consideration the divergent viewpoints, values, and knowledge of stakeholders, this allows to make informed decisions by identifying shared views and contentious grounds. We applied Q methodology to identify the subjective perceptions of local stakeholders on mangrove management in the Sokone and Toubacouta regions of the Sine-Saloum Delta in Senegal. Three distinct discourses (distinct viewpoints) were identified following the application of Q methodology: (i) the ‘Official’ discourse: “Mangrove management is fragmented; communities need to fill in the gaps for the management to work uniformly in all parts”; (ii) the ‘Happy Villagers’ discourse: “Village-level co-management works but some imbalances need to be corrected”; and (iii) the ‘Unhappy Villagers’ discourse: “Mangrove management is not working; things need to change, but it is not up to us (the villagers) to act”. There is polarization among the discourses on the effectiveness of current management. There is consensus among the discourses in wanting improvements in the current management but there is no agreement on what needs to change. The study highlights the importance of establishing clear guidelines concerning the role of government and other actors in participatory decentralized resource management. The identified areas of consensus can help create opportunities for sustainable management interventions and dissensus viewpoints highlight critical topics that require further discussion to improve the present management regime.

1. Introduction

Mangrove forests provide a multitude of benefits and services, from the provision of materials (such as timber and fisheries) to being a regulating influence (such as protection from storm surges and cyclones, and carbon sequestration), in addition to offering cultural and spiritual benefits (Walters et al., 2008; Mukherjee et al., 2014a). Although crucial for supporting local livelihoods, mangrove ecosystems are becoming increasingly threatened all over the world as they are undergoing rapid degradation (Duke et al., 2007; UNEP et al., 2014). This is mainly due to anthropogenic activities such as urban construction, infrastructure development for tourism, conversion for aquaculture and agriculture, overharvesting of mangrove resources, pollution, and human-induced climate change (Alongi, 2002; Dahdouh-Guebas et al., 2002; Mukherjee et al., 2014b).

The study assessed the economic, environmental and sustainability issues of organic shrimp farming in Bangladesh. Following stratified random sampling technique, 60 farmers were interviewed from several villages of Assasuni upazila under Satkhira district. The study revealed that productivity of organic shrimp per hectare was 383 pound and benefit cost ratio was 1.91 which meant that organic shrimp farming was highly profitable. Educational level of household head, gher size and knowledge on organic shrimp production had positive and significant influence in adopting organic shrimp production by the farmers. Cause-effect-mitigation analysis pointed out that organic shrimp farming could mitigate the adverse effects on environment caused by traditional shrimp farming. Appropriate climate and environment for organic shrimp culture was found as major strength and comparative profitability than traditional shrimp production was found as major opportunity of organic shrimp production. The study confirmed sustainability of organic shrimp production from the standpoint of consuming energy, protecting environment, economic feasibility and social/political equity. The study recommends that farmers should be trained to follow the work instructions and principles of organic shrimp production and the application of good management practices (GMPs) should be ensured for reducing the disease outbreak risk.

Introduction

Shrimp plays an important role in the international trade as a part of fisheries commodity. Bangladesh is ranked as 5th largest aquaculture producing country in the world after China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia with a fish production of 41.34 lakh metric tonnes in 2015–16 (Uddin et al., 2019a, 2019b; BBS, 2017). Its coastal area in the southwest has a unique brackish water ecosystem. This region is recognized worldwide as one of the most suitable shrimp farming areas for resource abundance and favorable agro-climatic circumstances (Ahmed et al., 2008). Satkhira, Khulna and Bagerhat districts are the key areas for producing shrimp in the southwestern Bangladesh, which contribute 71.4% to the national total production (BBS, 2017). Due to the availability of wild shrimp fry, low lying agricultural land, warm climate and the high profit, more farmers started using their lands extensively for shrimp farming. In the last decades, the demand for shrimp from both local and overseas markets has been increasing and many countries, especially in the global north, depend on imports of fish and seafood (Morf, 2014). Shrimp aquaculture has turned out to be one of the most significant sectors of Bangladesh’s economy. According to BFFEA (2017) and WITS (2017), frozen seafood contributes 1.7% (US$ 535.8 million) of the total export earnings (US$ 31714.2 million) from Bangladesh in 2015–16. Every year, Bangladesh ships more than 0.8 lakh tons of shrimp from producing on 2.1 lakh hectares land in the southwestern saline area.

Based on mechanical derivation, a new formula showing the effects of emergent vegetation on Manning’s coefficient was established for complex gradually varied flow affected by rigid unsubmerged vegetation in open channels. The new formula indicates that the Manning’s coefficient is a quadratic sum of its vegetal and boundary components with coefficients related to vegetation parameters. The variation characteristics of the total Manning’s coefficient and its vegetal component calculated by the new formula were investigated by a series of laboratory experiments under different vegetation coverage area ratios. It was found that the variations of both the total Manning’s coefficient and its vegetal component followed a linear decreasing trend along the vegetation section. Moreover, linear and power empirical formulas were constructed for the average total Manning’s coefficient and its vegetal component related to the vegetation coverage area ratio, respectively. The findings of the research may expand the theoretical connotations of the Manning’s coefficient for open channel hydraulics and demonstrate practical significance to engineering applications of the Manning’s coefficient for gradually varied flow in vegetated channels.

Introduction

Manning’s coefficient, which was proposed by the Irish engineer Robert Manning, comprehensively reflects the influence of channel roughness on water flow, and is widely used in traditional hydraulics to determine the degree of roughness in natural open channels [1], [2]. With decades of research in the field, Chow evaluated and tabulated the values of Manning’s coefficient for different surface roughness values [3]. However, the hydraulic conditions, such as flow resistance, are significantly changed as vegetation blocks the water flow into a partially continuous system [4], [5]. Numerous papers can be found in the literature that focus on the evaluation of vegetation effects on channel roughness [6]–[9]. For vegetated channel flow, Palmer proposed an empirical relationship in which the Manning’s coefficient is related to the product of the flow velocity v and the hydraulic radius R [10], [11]. Engineers have adapted this relationship in the design of irrigation channels and other vegetated waterways [3]. Nonetheless, experimental studies by Kouwen and Li indicated that the Manning’s coefficient is not always linearly related to the product of flow velocity and hydraulic radius [12].

Provisioning services

Regulating services

Cultural services

Conclusions

References

Introduction

In 2016, the national total output of aquatic products in China was 69 Mt, of which 32 Mt (46%) were freshwater aquatic products. The freshwater aquaculture area was 6.18
105 ha, of which 2.76
105 ha (44.71%) were freshwater fishponds. There is a huge increase in demand for freshwater aquatic products in China. However, the total aquaculture area is rapidly diminishing because of industry’s need for land. For example, the annual national decrease in total aquaculture area was 0.9% in 2015 and 1.4% in 2016 (Wang et al., 2017). To alleviate the situation, some intelligent systems which can contribute to increased production and reduced costs are being applied in freshwater aquaculture to monitor important water environmental variables in real time, such as dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in water, water temperature, pH etc. (Simbeye & Yang, 2014; Simbeye, Zhao, & Yang, 2014). Siemens Corporation developed a system for monitoring 5 to 12 online water parameters in 2011 (Jawad, Nordin, Gharghan, Jawad, & Ismail, 2017). The American YSI Corporation also developed the YSI5200 aquaculture monitoring system for monitoring six kinds of water quality parameters in 2008. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences developed a multi-point online water quality testing system which can simultaneously monitor six water parameters in 2010. Scientists from Jiangsu University in China, developed a distribution monitoring system to determine a variety of key water parameters in real time, and the system had capacity for wireless data transmission in 2011 (Huan, Liu, & Chong, 2014; Huang et al., 2013). However, most of these existing monitoring systems, utilised in freshwater fishpond aquaculture, exchange information between the remote intelligent unit and monitoring computer through cable transmission. Cable communication systems carry many wires which results in a complex system and complications of data measurements and transmission. Moreover, such systems, once deployed, are inconvenient to expand to cover more targets. Further development of the freshwater fishpond aquaculture industry based on a cable communication system is limited, as cable communication systems are more suitable for a simple and small-scale scenario.

The Congo Basin (CB) region is highly relevant in both environmental and social terms. Due to the various roles and meanings that forests play in the region, it becomes urgent to understand how forestry companies disclose their (alleged) corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. This work aims at identifying which CSR themes are more often disclosed by companies, and verifying geographical patterns according to their headquarters location, in a region where studies on the subject are scarce. A grid of CSR themes enabled the analysis of the website contents of 37 forestry sector firms operating in the CB. Companies were divided in three geographical regions, according to the location of their headquarters: West, Africa, and Asia. The results suggest that the companies value timber certification and prefer to focus on disclosing environmental themes related to their operations. Education and health are the most disclosed themes, in line with contractual obligations. There is a clear relation between the disclosure and the geographical origin of the companies: Western companies disclose more than their Asian and African counterparts. The near-absence of disclosure around human and workers’ rights by Asian companies is notorious.

Introduction

The second largest tropical rainforest in the world is located in the CB. It plays a fundamental role on the preservation of biodiversity and climate regulation by capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide and contributing to limiting global warming. Around 60 million people depend on this forest for their livelihoods, and it has a crucial social and cultural role for local populations and regional economies (de Wasseige et al., 2015). Despite having inherited good infrastructures from the colonial period and having huge reserves of raw-materials (Matti, 2010), the region is politically and economically collapsing. CB countries (Fig. 1) score low on human development index (UNEP, 2016): life expectancy is short, fertility rates and population growth are amongst the highest in the world, and illiteracy rates are significant. Besides, they are amongst the worst in terms of business environment (World Bank, 2017), with high indexes of hunger (von Grebmer et al., 2012) and corruption (Transparency International, 2016). The forestry sector harvests a natural raw material – wood. Logging generates positive and negative environmental and social impacts, some of which are specific to the CB. The most frequently mentioned impact consists on the construction of logging roads. Such infrastructures generate direct and (mainly) indirect impacts. They damage the forest cover, increase bush meat demand and facilitate access of poachers to previously remote locations (de Wasseige et al., 2014). The upsurge in the circulation of vehicles and people place challenges on the region, namely the emergence of new diseases, the supply of significant quantities of alcohol and toxic industrial products (e.g. glues) used as drugs, generating previously non-existent problems (Amaral, 2016). Albeit relatively well preserved, the forest is threatened by the foreseen economic boom, large scale farming projects, and illegal wood extraction activities in the region (Defourny et al., 2011). The timber industry is an important source of income and jobs for the CB and will be decisive for the future of the forests in the region (Brunner and Ekoko, 2000). This relevance may affect each country differently, as some of them (i) have considerable forest resources but an underdeveloped forest sector, such as Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); (ii) abundant forest resources and an active timber sector, such as Republic of Congo, Gabon and southeast Cameroon; and (iii) scarce forest resources and a small but active forest sector, such as Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and south Cameroon (Ruiz-Pérez et al., 2005). Perspectives of economic growth raise concerns over the role of companies in social development, sustainability of timber operations,