IIntroduction to ECASA. - The ECASA Toolbox

Ecosystem Approach for Sustainable AquacultureECASAIntroductionKenny BlackSAMSObankenny.black@sams.ac.uk

Contents• Aquaculture into the future• Impacts• Ecosystem Approach• What is needed• ECASA project WPs• EIA• Site Selection• Monitoring• Indicators• Models• Toolbox

Marine and inland aquaculture6050Marine aquacultureInland aquacultureMIllion tonnes4030201001950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000YearOlsenFAO statisticsFIGIS

Predictions made based on historical trends706050Marine aquacultureHigher estimateLower estomateMillion tonnes40302010FAO prediction for marineaquaculture:54 – 70 million tonnes by202001990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020YearOlsenFAO statisticsFIGIS

• By about 2030, aquaculture will replace fisheries as thedominant mechanism by which humans acquire marinefood products (FAO)• Only a century earlier, many scientists believed thatthe supply of food from the sea through fisheries waseffectively unlimited

Max Troell

Impacts• Organic wastes– Sediments, benthos• Waste nutrients– hyper-nutrification• Escapes– genetic/ecological effects• Medicines and chemicals• Parasites, diseases• Society– Food security– Employment– Landscape– Other resource users

Ecosystem Approach (CBD)• A strategy for the integrated management of land, water and livingresources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitableway• Helps to reach a balance between: conservation, sustainable use and thefair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from resource use• Based on the application of appropriate scientific methods focused onlevels of biological organization, which encompass the essential structure,processes, functions and interactions among organisms and theirenvironment• It recognises that humans, with their cultural diversity, are an integralcomponent of many ecosystems

Definition and principles(FAO - from Mallorca workshop)• “An Ecosystem Approach for Aquaculture is astrategy for the integration of the activity within thewider ecosystem such that it promotes sustainabledevelopment, equity, and resilience of interlinkedsocial-ecological systems”.

The EAA is guided by 3 main principles:• 1. Aquaculture should be developed in thecontext of ecosystem functions and services(including biodiversity) with no degradation ofthese beyond their resilience• 2. Aquaculture should improve human-well beingand equity for all stakeholders• 3. Aquaculture should be developed in thecontext of other sectors, policies and goals

Making aquaculture sustainable:Delivering the Ecosystem Approach• Optimal Site Selection (industry)• Transparent EIA (planners, public)• Effective monitoring (regulators)• Based on robust science (researchers)• Good inter-communication (stakeholders)• Building public confidence

PartnerPartners1 Scottish Association for Marine Science SAMS UK2 Centre for the Economics and Management ofAquatic Resources3 Napier University NNUE UKUOPCountry4 National Institute of Biology NIB Slovenia5 Leibniz-Institute of Marine Science IFM-GEOMAR Germany6 Akvaplan Niva Akvaplan Norway7 University of Haifa HAIFA Israel8 University of Crete UOC Greece9 Plymouth Marine Laboratory PML UK10 Institute of Marine Research IMAR Portugal11 Central Institute for Marine Research ICRAM Italy12 Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation dela MerIFREMERUKFrance13 Instituto Tecnológico Pesquero y Alimentario AZTI Spain14 University of Venice DCF_UNIVE Italy15 Rudjer Boskovic Institute RBI Croatia16 University of Göteborg UGOT Sweden

Project Objectives• To identify quantitative and qualitative indicators of the effects ofaquaculture on the environment and vice-versa, and to assess theirapplicability• To develop operational tools, including models, to establish anddescribe the relationship between environmental conditions andaquaculture activities over a range of ecosystems and aquacultureproduction systems• To develop effective environmental impact assessment and siteselection methods for coastal area management• Thus, to contribute to the sustainable development ofaquaculture in Europe

WP2 Indicatorsof aquacultureinteractionWP6Interaction with stakeholders and the publicWP4Testing and developingof indicators and modelsWP5Field validation ofindicators and modelsWP3Indicators ofecosystem changePrimary Deliverable:“Toolpack” of indicators and models

WP2 Identifying indicators• Objectives• A workable definition of indicators• To identify the most relevant indicators of the impacts of aquaculture onecosystems• To identify indicators of socio-economics impact of aquaculture on coastalareas• To classify the different indicators• To assess the interactions between aquaculture and other major uses ofthe coastal zone (fisheries, tourism & recreation, shipping etc)www.ecasa.org.uk

WP3 Identifying drivers of ecosystemchanges and their environmental indicators• Objectives• To identify and assess the role and the relative importance of thedifferent forcing factors: (aquaculture, fisheries, pollution,eutrophication, habitat destruction etc.) and environmental variationsaffecting the water quality in aquaculture zones• To suggest the best methods for obtaining reference levels and associatedindicators useful to monitor the impact of anthropogenic factors onaquaculture• To assess indicators of the interactions between aquaculture and othermajor uses of the coastal zone (fisheries, tourism & recreation, shippingetc)• To identify potential ways for measuring the additional cost caused byexternal environmental change• To identify indicators of incompatibilities between uses and/or minimaldistances required to avoid conflicts over environmental issueswww.ecasa.org.uk

WP4 Assessing the applicability ofindicators and tools.• Objectives• To assess the efficiency, cost effectiveness, robustness, reliability,practicality, feasibility, accuracy, and precision of aquacultureenvironmentinteraction indicators identified in WP2 and WP3• To develop operational tools, especially models, which capture thefunctional relationship between environment and aquaculture activities,and which embody the chosen indicators. The chosen model set willinclude stand-alone tools currently fit for purpose, developments ofexisting models to increase applicability and robustness and hybridisationsof existing models to enhance predictive powerwww.ecasa.org.uk

WP5 Testing and validating these tools forEIA, monitoring and site selection.• Objectives• To establish robust site selection criteria to maximise the utility of thework package• To select suitable study sites for testing of the tools and indicators thatare chosen in WP4• To carry out a series of field sampling campaigns (13) that will generate adatabase of information that will enable evaluation of the tools andindicators by means of appropriate predictive modelswww.ecasa.org.uk

WP6 Dissemination• Objectives• To ensure effective dissemination of the project through producingeffective public and private web-interfaces• To ensure co-ordination of national meetings between stakeholders andparticipants and the 2 way flow of information• To organise a final international meeting of the project betweenparticipants and stakeholders including organisations from outside thepartner’s countries and appropriate international bodies• To co-ordinate the production of effective dissemination materialsincluding newsletterswww.ecasa.org.uk

EIA• An assessment of the impact of an industrialinstallation or activity on the surrounding environment,conducted before work on that activity has commenced• The original baseline study, a key part of this process,describes the original conditions

EIA• Evaluating the likely environmental impacts of adevelopment, together with an assessment of how theseverity of the impacts could be reduced

EIA• A process by which the consequences of planneddevelopment projects are evaluated as an integral partof planning the project. The analysis of biological,physical, social and economic factors to determine theenvironmental and social consequences of a proposeddevelopment action• The goal of the EIA is to provide policy makers with thebest available information in order to minimizeeconomic costs and maximize benefits associated witha proposed development

Site Selection• Site selection is the other side of the coin from EIA• Many of the processes of EIA have to be consideredduring the site selection process• The same types of tools, and especially models, thatare used for EIA can be applied to screen sites forenvironmental suitability• This is common practice in Scottish salmon farming, forexample, where the farmer can estimate theproduction potential of a site on the basis of modelpredictions

Monitoring• Monitoring is an intermittent (regular or irregular)series of observations in time, carried out to show theextent of compliance with a formulated standard ordegree of deviation from an expected norm

Monitoring• There are a wide range of different monitoringprotocols and currently in use throughout theworld and within Europe• ECASA is an opportunity to consider these andmake recommendation on their suitability• Maximising information while minimising cost

Indicators• Follow measurable change in some social, economic, orenvironmental system over time. Generally an indicatorfocuses on a small, manageable, and telling piece of asystem to give people a sense of the bigger picture

Indicators• A plant or animal whose existence in an area is stronglyindicative of specific environmental conditions(indicator species)

Indicators• Are a subset of monitoring attributes that areparticularly information-rich in the sense that theirvalues are somehow indicative of the quality, health,or integrity of the larger ecological system to whichthey belong

Indicators• Are a selected subset of the physical, chemical, andbiological elements and processes of natural systemsthat are selected to represent the overall health orcondition of the system

Indicators• Are used to condense complex monitoring data on theecosystem into simple and understandable information.They are measurable phenomena reflecting the EcoQOstatements: indicators are designed to show how theagreed EcoQOs are met

Models• Tentative schemes or structures that correspond to realobjects, events, or classes of events, and that haveexplanatory power2 1g solids m bed yr150125Group 2150005000Northing (m)10075A1 A3B1B3250050050252500 25 50 75 100 125 150 175Easting (m)

Models• Numerical computer models which attempt to forecastthe state of the environment

Models• A representation of a system that allows forinvestigation its properties and prediction of futureoutcomes

ModelsSite SelectionIndicatorsEIAGovernanceProductionMonitoring

EIA/Site Selection/Monitoring• In ECASA we have appliedand assessed thesuitability of a wide rangeof indicators and tools atfish and shellfish farmsacross Europe• The outcomes arepresented in Study SiteReports backed up byModel and Indicatordescriptions

ToolboxECASA TOOLBOXUSRNM = testPSWD = test1

Stakeholder Engagement• The toolbox is intended to be useful to a wide range ofstakeholders• It will achieve that best if we can tailor it to meetstakeholder needs• During construction of the toolbox, there areopportunities for additions and improvements• Please give us your views!• We plan to complete the toolbox by the end ofNovember 2007

Thanks for your attention!ecasa@sams.ac.ukwww.ecasa.org.uk