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Harvesting of kelp cultivated in proximity to Atlantic salmon at Charlie Cove, Bay of Fundy, Canada. Photo: M. Sawhney |
INTERNATIONAL aquaculture experts have gathered together to ensure that Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) is well represented on Wikipedia - the Internet's biggest free-content encyclopedia.
Gregor Reid, a jointly appointed Post Doctoral Fellow with the University of New Brunswick and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, wrote an article on IMTA for the website, with the help of several contributors (Thierry Chopin, Shawn Robinson, Amir Neori, Alejandro Buschmann, Muki Shpigel, Andrew Rodger and John Bolton).
Previously the only entry in Wikipedia for IMTA was for the International Modelling and Talent Association.
"We know that we have modelled for different kinds of media and we are biased enough to believe that we are talented, but there was nothing on the real IMTA, i.e. Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture!" Thierry Chopin joked.
IMTA is a practice in which the by-products (wastes) from one species are recycled to become inputs (fertilisers, food) for another. Fed aquaculture (e.g. fish, shrimp) is combined with inorganic extractive (e.g. seaweed) and organic extractive (e.g. shellfish) aquaculture to create balanced systems for environmental sustainability (biomitigation), economic stability (product diversification and risk reduction) and social acceptability (better management practices).
A number of IMTA projects are underway worldwide, in countries including Canada, Chile, Israel, South Africa and the UK.
In the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, Canada, a collaborative project with industry, academia and government is presently expanding production to commercial scale. The current system includes Atlantic salmon, blue mussels and kelps; deposit feeders are being investigated.
The Scottish Association for Marine Science, in Oban, is working on the development of IMTA systems by co-culturing salmon, oysters, sea urchins, and brown and red seaweeds under different projects. Research focuses on biological and physical processes, as well as production economics and implications for integrated coastal zone management.
Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. It contains over 7 million articles in over 200 languages, and is still growing.
www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.
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