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IMTA research
CIMTAN

Researchers at Simon Fraser University are joining forces with other scientists and industry partners across the country to assess how Canada’s aquaculture sector can be more efficiently and sustainably managed.

Duncan Knowler, associate dean in the Faculty of Environment, leads an SFU team studying the economic impact of sustainable aquaculture. The study is part of a five-year, $5-million project funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Strategic Network grant.

The research focuses on a technique known as Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA), which involves combining several trophic, or nutritional layers within fish-farming enterprises to serve as waste reducers, and to increase and diversify fish farm production.

“In B.C., a likely configuration would mean situating shellfish-growing units next to and downstream from fish pens, and then locating a further set of kelp ‘rafts’ after the shellfish to capture additional wastes,” explains Knowler.

“So far, such technologies have not received much attention in B.C. All the talk is revolving around closed containment systems as a sustainable alternative. These do not biomitigate – you still have to dispose of the wastes – and they are very expensive.”

Knowler says IMTA, which has been in development in Canada since 2001, has the potential to bridge opposing factions on how the industry should be managed.

Besides examining the economic value and efficiency of IMTA, Knowler’s team will compare IMTA’s economic benefits with those of conventional aquaculture systems and identify financial incentives that would increase its profitability.

Aquaculture is the world’s fastest growing food production sector and supplies nearly half of the seafood consumed worldwide.

Knowler and other scientists say in order to reach its full potential and to do so responsibly, aquaculture’s impact on natural ecosystems and traditional societies needs to be better understood.

The project, led by Thierry Chopin at the University of New Brunswick, involves 26 scientists who are part of the Canadian Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture Network (CIMTAN).

For more information on CIMTAN, click here

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