10 Status and Future Perspectives in Aquaculture
317
costs than cage cultures. It is currently quite common that the larval and juvenile
stages of fish are produced in land based systems (Moksness et al. 2004), including
Atlantic salmon and sea bream, and RAS are becoming beneficial because of low
water use, reduced energy costs, and high production capacities as a result of the
stable environmental conditions that can be maintained in these systems. RAS
allow complete environmental control, and will certainly represent a main line of
development in western countries in the decades to come. Growth of adult salmon,
sea bass and sea bream will most likely continue to take place in cages, but there
are other species that most likely will be produced in land-based farms, for example
species of flatfish like turbot.
10.6 Concluding Remarks
The present composition of cultured species will to some extent also reflect the
future development of species on a short time scale, because markets and the efficiency of the cultivation technology are already responsible for the current situation. The few most dominant cultured species are Pacific cupped oyster, Japanese
carpet shell, and Yesso scallop among the molluscs, Atlantic salmon among fishes,
and Whiteleg shrimp and Giant tiger prawn among the crustaceans. Beside these
species, there are a high numbers of species which are produced in lower, although
variable, quantities. The situation may, however, change quite significantly over a
longer time perspective. We will suggest that the availability of feed resources will
become a main driver for species composition of future marine aquaculture. If the
further increase in feed must be derived from use of agricultural sources, and not
from new marine or other marine type of sources, there will most likely be a gradual
change towards a higher proportion of herbivorous and omnivorous species with
lower ω3 HUFA requirements than marine and diadromous fishes. The global production of molluscs and crustaceans, characterised by lower n-3 HUFA requirements,
is already increasing faster than fish production, but it cannot be clearly related to
the current feed situation. It is a major challenge of aquaculture to achieve better
control of the feed availability in the future. Only if this can be realised, aquaculture
may grow in a similar way as agriculture. Space for the industry and public environmental concern are other main driving factors of the development, but these
constraints can most likely be mitigated through technological improvements.
Acknowledgements We express our thanks to all persons that have participated in the foresight
study at NTNU, including employees, SINTEF personnel, external contributors from management
and industry, and the international experts.
References
Aksnes DL, Blindheim J (1996) Circulation patterns in the North Atlantic and possible impact on
population dynamics of Calanus finmarchicus. Ophelia 44(1–3):7–28
317
costs than cage cultures. It is currently quite common that the larval and juvenile
stages of fish are produced in land based systems (Moksness et al. 2004), including
Atlantic salmon and sea bream, and RAS are becoming beneficial because of low
water use, reduced energy costs, and high production capacities as a result of the
stable environmental conditions that can be maintained in these systems. RAS
allow complete environmental control, and will certainly represent a main line of
development in western countries in the decades to come. Growth of adult salmon,
sea bass and sea bream will most likely continue to take place in cages, but there
are other species that most likely will be produced in land-based farms, for example
species of flatfish like turbot.
10.6 Concluding Remarks
The present composition of cultured species will to some extent also reflect the
future development of species on a short time scale, because markets and the efficiency of the cultivation technology are already responsible for the current situation. The few most dominant cultured species are Pacific cupped oyster, Japanese
carpet shell, and Yesso scallop among the molluscs, Atlantic salmon among fishes,
and Whiteleg shrimp and Giant tiger prawn among the crustaceans. Beside these
species, there are a high numbers of species which are produced in lower, although
variable, quantities. The situation may, however, change quite significantly over a
longer time perspective. We will suggest that the availability of feed resources will
become a main driver for species composition of future marine aquaculture. If the
further increase in feed must be derived from use of agricultural sources, and not
from new marine or other marine type of sources, there will most likely be a gradual
change towards a higher proportion of herbivorous and omnivorous species with
lower ω3 HUFA requirements than marine and diadromous fishes. The global production of molluscs and crustaceans, characterised by lower n-3 HUFA requirements,
is already increasing faster than fish production, but it cannot be clearly related to
the current feed situation. It is a major challenge of aquaculture to achieve better
control of the feed availability in the future. Only if this can be realised, aquaculture
may grow in a similar way as agriculture. Space for the industry and public environmental concern are other main driving factors of the development, but these
constraints can most likely be mitigated through technological improvements.
Acknowledgements We express our thanks to all persons that have participated in the foresight
study at NTNU, including employees, SINTEF personnel, external contributors from management
and industry, and the international experts.
References
Aksnes DL, Blindheim J (1996) Circulation patterns in the North Atlantic and possible impact on
population dynamics of Calanus finmarchicus. Ophelia 44(1–3):7–28