• noting that the world is too dependent, however, on aquaculture development
and its exports, as aquaculture is threatened by coastal urbanization, industrialization, and water pollution. Weighing these trends we believe that it is urgent
that the world develop offshore aquaculture, while complying with the FAO
Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and Aquaculture as well as with
other environmental regulatory frameworks in support of sustainable aquaculture development;
• finding that Offshore aquaculture will require much higher inputs of capital but
also needs a new level of cooperation from a wide range of social, technological,
economic, and natural resource users;
• discovering that over the past decade major advances and new concepts have
evolved, and several of them have been successfully tested at the pilot scale
level, while others have failed.
• learning that these experiments and scale-up trials have led us to believe that
offshore aquaculture does have substantial potential to bring global aquaculture
production to new levels to meet future human needs;
• believing firmly that strategies need to be developed with strong participation of
all affected stakeholders interested in the social-ecological design and engineering of innovative offshore aquaculture food systems;
• recognizing that the integration of offshore food and energy systems (e.g.
aquaculture systems and windfarms; oil and gas) appear to be especially
promising, but will require a high level of innovative technology, the use of
marine spatial planning, and transparent, adaptive management for spatial efficiency and conflict resolution;
• concluding also that open ocean aquaculture if intelligently designed can be
incorporate into overall cooperative fisheries restoration and management
strategies.
The participants, which included a core group of the global expertise on the
subject, formulated a series of specific recommendations and called upon national,
international, intergovernmental agencies, as well as the industries, potential
investors, scientists, regulators and NGOs of the respective countries to strongly
support these recommendations with the aim to provide a healthy and environmentally sustainable bio-resource system that can substantially contribute to meet
the future demands of our societies. All recommendations and justifications are
summarised in Rosenthal et al. (2012a, b).
14.6 Conclusion
When we began this project several years ago, we were motivated by our firm
conviction that a sustainable seafood supply for future generations is dependent on
expansion of marine aquaculture and that open ocean environments are likely the
best option for increasing production. We also recognized that maximizing the
14 Epilogue—Pathways Towards Sustainable Ocean Food Production
401
and its exports, as aquaculture is threatened by coastal urbanization, industrialization, and water pollution. Weighing these trends we believe that it is urgent
that the world develop offshore aquaculture, while complying with the FAO
Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and Aquaculture as well as with
other environmental regulatory frameworks in support of sustainable aquaculture development;
• finding that Offshore aquaculture will require much higher inputs of capital but
also needs a new level of cooperation from a wide range of social, technological,
economic, and natural resource users;
• discovering that over the past decade major advances and new concepts have
evolved, and several of them have been successfully tested at the pilot scale
level, while others have failed.
• learning that these experiments and scale-up trials have led us to believe that
offshore aquaculture does have substantial potential to bring global aquaculture
production to new levels to meet future human needs;
• believing firmly that strategies need to be developed with strong participation of
all affected stakeholders interested in the social-ecological design and engineering of innovative offshore aquaculture food systems;
• recognizing that the integration of offshore food and energy systems (e.g.
aquaculture systems and windfarms; oil and gas) appear to be especially
promising, but will require a high level of innovative technology, the use of
marine spatial planning, and transparent, adaptive management for spatial efficiency and conflict resolution;
• concluding also that open ocean aquaculture if intelligently designed can be
incorporate into overall cooperative fisheries restoration and management
strategies.
The participants, which included a core group of the global expertise on the
subject, formulated a series of specific recommendations and called upon national,
international, intergovernmental agencies, as well as the industries, potential
investors, scientists, regulators and NGOs of the respective countries to strongly
support these recommendations with the aim to provide a healthy and environmentally sustainable bio-resource system that can substantially contribute to meet
the future demands of our societies. All recommendations and justifications are
summarised in Rosenthal et al. (2012a, b).
14.6 Conclusion
When we began this project several years ago, we were motivated by our firm
conviction that a sustainable seafood supply for future generations is dependent on
expansion of marine aquaculture and that open ocean environments are likely the
best option for increasing production. We also recognized that maximizing the
14 Epilogue—Pathways Towards Sustainable Ocean Food Production
401