Norbert Sporns said, "This environmental tragedy sadly highlights one of the ongoing debates in the aquaculture industry today about the advantages of pond-raised vs. cage-raised farmed fish. Advocates of cage-raised practices assume that fish in cages are raised in a constantly flowing water supply which reduces the effects of algae cultures and leads to better-tasting, healthier fish. But in fact, this reliance on an uncontrolled water environment can lead to many problems, one of which is horribly dramatized by the disaster in Colombia."
To learn more about the event, Mr. Sporns spoke with Dr. Claude E. Boyd, Professor of Agriculture and Environment at Auburn University, Alabama, and a long-time consultant to numerous domestic and international organizations including the World Aquaculture Society and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. Dr. Boyd explained that conflicts in management of water resources can result in such a kill-off.
Dr. Boyd, who is Butler Cunningham Eminent Scholar in Auburn's Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquaculture and the author or co-author of numerous scientific books on pond aquaculture, added, "In general terms, pond culture is more environmentally friendly than cage culture, because it enables greater control of the water environment and effluents that impact the health of the fish."
HQ Sustainable is a leader in toxin-free integrated aquaculture and aquatic product processing. The Seattle-based company's tilapia farm operations are pond-based and located in the environmentally pristine island province of Hainan, China. They are carefully controlled to mimic tilapia's natural habitat. As a vertically integrated operation, HQ maintains control over all aspects of production, from the manufacture of feed, to water quantity and quality, to processing a good-tasting toxin-free final product.
Concerns regarding pond practices focus primarily on the pollution of a closed environment and the growth of algae, which affects the health and taste of the fish. HQ's pond farms demonstrate environmentally friendly aquaculture solutions that ensure sustainable production of good-tasting fish that are free of all toxins, including hormones and antibiotics.
HQ's Pond Raised Solutions
- Pond environment controls inflow and outflow of water, avoiding the need for any prophylactic use of antibiotics.
- Pond-grown algae provide excellent feed supplement where adequate quantities of dissolved oxygen are present, which eliminates any off-flavor from anaerobic algae cultures.
- HQ's poly-species approach mimics nature by introducing natural bottom-feeder fish and predator fish to maintain the pond eco-system.
- Tilapia are herbivores and no fishmeal need be added to tilapia feed which could possibly introduce ocean-sourced pollutants such as heavy metals, PCBs or dioxins. Pond stability provides favorable feed conversion rates over cage-raised tilapia.
- Finally, ponds are located away from mangrove swamp areas to preserve crucial natural habitat, and used pond water provides valuable natural nutrients to neighboring farmers' fields instead of being released into waterways, providing downstream concerns to other waterway users.
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TheFishSite News Desk