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Aquaculture is a growing industry with an annual growth rate that is far superior to the population growth rate. Most production occurs in lower‐ and middle‐income countries, and therefore, they can improve the efficiency and modernize the production systems to increase exports to earn foreign exchange earnings for economic and social development. The institutional arrangements should be part of the mechanisms that ensure sustainable aquaculture growth, through the participation of all stakeholders. Sustainability is possible with good and dynamic governance through which the industry embraces the basic principles of governance, equity, accountability, efficiency, and predictability. Over the past decade, several countries made changes in governance and implemented regulations through their action plans to improve aquaculture productivity, and stakeholders profited from the changes made along the value chain. For the producers to benefit from the value‐added products, they complied with the regulations imposed by the importing countries, international regulatory bodies, or their own consumers. Standards increased, and the implementation of certification resulted in changes in the industrial structure. These standards, which inflict regulatory cost on producers, stimulated an improvement in productivity and product quality. However, during the last decade, production growth declined from 5.8% from 2001 to 2010 to 4.5% from 2011 to 2018, resulting in the elusive realization of the potential of meeting the sustainable development targets. There is a need for a paradigm shift that encourages small‐scale producers to engage in sustainable intensive aquaculture. The challenge is, therefore, to move toward production intensification and expansion, and the harmonization of national and international regulations to ensure the supply of safe and adequate fish to consumers, while maintaining a sustainable production system, and at the same time conserving the environment and maintaining social and economic stability. With good governance and political will, the social, economic, and environmental objectives for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals during the period 2020–2030 are possible if governments integrate sustainable aquaculture developments within an expanded aquatic and terrestrial food security policy framework using systems thinking and open innovation approaches.

Recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), as a modern highly intensive aquaculture mode, demonstrates the advantages of environmental friendliness, high efficiency and sustainable development, and has been widely used worldwide; they are also expected to be more widely applied in industrial aquaculture in the future as our natural resources are decreasing. However, RAS imposes very high requirements on operating conditions, including temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, stocking density, light, feed composition, feeding amount, feeding frequency, and disinfection methods. Each factor is critical to the stable operation of the system. Therefore, to ensure the efficient and stable operation of RAS, its influencing factors must be controlled to within appropriate ranges. Herein, the factors affecting the operation of RAS are reviewed, and the mechanisms of their influence on the reared organisms are revealed, and suggestions on the control of these factors in aquaculture are proposed. This review can provide a theoretical basis for the further development of RAS.

As aquaculture production expands, we must avoid mistakes made during increasing intensification of agriculture. Understanding environmental impacts and measures to mitigate them is important for designing responsible aquaculture production systems. There are four realistic goals that can make future aquaculture operations more sustainable and productive: (1) improvement of management practices to create more efficient and diverse systems at every production level; (2) emphasis on local decisionmaking, human capacity development, and collective action to generate productive aquaculture systems that fit into societal constraints and demands; (3) development of risk management efforts for all systems that reduce disease problems, eliminate antibiotic and drug abuse, and prevent exotic organism introduction into local waters; and (4) creation of systems to better identify more sustainably grown aquaculture products in the market and promote them to individual consumers. By 2050, seafood will be predominantly sourced through aquaculture, including not only finfish and invertebrates but also seaweeds.

Aquaculture production is projected to surpass wild-capture fisheries as the primary source of aquatic animal protein in the near future. Farmed shrimp—which are amongst the most valuable aquaculture commodities—are raised predominantly in Southeast Asia and Latin America in a variety of production systems, spanning from extensive to intensive farming. Shrimp aquaculture has been widely criticized for causing mangrove forest degradation and loss, leading to calls for more sustainable aquaculture approaches that protect mangroves. Here we examine an approach promoted as more sustainable—integrated mangrove aquaculture (IMA): a type of farming where mangroves are planted in or alongside shrimp ponds. We argue that mangroves within IMA shrimp systems provide biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services that are, at best, compromised, especially when compared to intact mangrove forests. Given the rapid adoption of IMA approaches, including advocacy for uptake from many governments and non-governmental organizations, there is an urgent need to ensure that these and other aquaculture systems do not result in any conversion of intact mangrove ecosystems into aquaculture ponds, and to identify any benefits (or lack thereof) provided by IMA systems. The increasing adoption of IMA may offer false promises for managing trade-offs between increasing aquaculture productivity and mangrove forest conservation.

Biofloc technology (BFT) has been identified as an effective and sustainable aquaculture method, particularly beneficial for warm-water species in tropical areas. This technology is widely used in intensive aquaculture for several aquatic species due to its capacity to significantly reduce water exchange rates, benefiting both production systems and the environment. The efficacy of BFT in farming operations is directly related to a proper management of water quality parameters within the optimal range of the target species, as these parameters directly impact the yield of production units. Essentially, BFT functions as a water quality management system, converting harmful nitrogenous waste such as ammonia and nitrite into less harmful forms such as nitrates through microbial activity, ensuring the health of aquatic organisms. Key environmental factors such as temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, salinity, alkalinity, TAN, nitrite, nitrate, settleable solids (SS), and total suspended solids (TSS) can affect the growth of aquatic species and the functionality of the microbial community. This review brings (i) a comprehensive bibliometric analysis on biofloc and water quality, (ii) highlights optimal ranges, and (iii) key observations of several water parameters including temperature, salinity, nitrogenous compounds, SS, TSS, DO, phosphate, pH, and alkalinity in BFT rearing conditions for key aquatic species. Elements such as countries, thematic and keywords, and authors were explored, correlated, and discussed. In addition, this manuscript also (iv) discusses the presence of heavy metals and microplastics (MPs) in BFT culture water. A dedicated review on water quality in biofloc technology will contribute to future research and development (R&D) in this topic, support decision-making to improve farming operations, and can help further expansion of BFT-based aquaculture.

Intensive aquaculture has increased the severity and frequency of fish diseases. Given the functional importance of gut microbiota in various facets of host physiology, modulation of this microbiota is a feasible strategy to mitigate emerging diseases in aquaculture. To achieve this, a fundamental understanding of the interplay among fish health, microbiota, and invading pathogens is required. This commentary focuses on current knowledge regarding the associations between fish diseases, dysbiosis of gut microbiota, and immune responses. Furthermore, updated research on fish disease from an ecological perspective is discussed, including colonization resistance imposed by commensals and strategies used by pathogens to overcome resistance.

Aquaculture is among the industries growing at a fastest rate in the world. This industry has been recognised to play a critical role in food production for a continuously expanding world population. However, despite various technological innovations and improvements in production techniques, this sector is still associated with misperceptions and negative opinions hampering its implementation and wide consumption of its products. The integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) concept was developed as a way to increase sustainability of intensive aquaculture systems, using an ecosystem-based approach. In this study, following this sustainable aquaculture concept, a closed recirculation IMTA system, at laboratorial scale, was developed and tested with the simultaneous production of fish, sea urchin and seaweed for 70 days. Based on this proof of concept, a hands-on experimental activity was developed to teach and communicate recent scientific advances in environmental sustainability and value of aquaculture products to young students and the general public. This experimental activity was tested and evaluated with students (n = 60) of basic and high-school (secondary) learning cycles. A quantitative assessment was carried out through a short questionnaire provided to the students before and after the experimental activity. After the experimental activity, a qualitative assessment was also performed through questions expressed without preconceived categories or hypotheses. Results indicated that the overall frequency of students who consider the ocean to be “very important” and “extremely important” increased from 68% to 81% after performing the experimental activity. Moreover, the percentages of correct answers to the questions related to IMTA concepts also increased significantly after the experimental activity. In the discussion of the experimental activity results, the students stated that they appreciated the opportunity to develop a hands-on experimental activity, which allowed them to increase their knowledge and obtain information on aquaculture and the quality of its products.

Over the years, the gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), a prominent species in Mediterranean aquaculture with an increasing production volume and aquafarming technologies, has become an important research focus. The accumulation of knowledge via several studies during the past decades on their functional and biological characteristics has significantly improved the aquacultural aspects, namely their reproductive success, survival, and growth. Despite the remarkable progress in the aquaculture industry, hatchery conditions are still far from ideal, resulting in frequent challenges at the beginning of intensive culture, entailing significant economic losses. Given its increasing importance and the persistent challenges faced in its aquacultural practices, a thorough review is essential to consolidate knowledge, and elucidate the intricate facets concerning its distribution, life cycle, growth dynamics, genetics, aquaculture methodologies, economic dimensions, and the challenges inherent to its cultivation.

This overview examines the status and trends of seafood production, and the positive and negative impacts of aquaculture on biodiversity conservation. Capture fisheries have been stabilized at about 90 million metric tons since the late 1980s, whereas aquaculture increased from 12 million metric tons in 1985 to 45 million metric tons by 2004. Aquaculture includes species at any trophic level that are grown for domestic consumption or export. Aquaculture has some positive impacts on biodiversity; for example, cultured seafood can reduce pressure on overexploited wild stocks, stocked organisms may enhance depleted stocks, aquaculture often boosts natural production and species diversity, and employment in aquaculture may replace more destructive resource uses. On the negative side, species that escape from aquaculture can become invasive in areas where they are nonnative, effluents from aquaculture can cause eutrophication, ecologically sensitive land may be converted for aquaculture use, aquaculture species may consume increasingly scarce fish meal, and aquaculture species may transmit diseases to wild fish. Most likely, aquaculture will continue to grow at significant rates through 2025, and will remain the most rapidly increasing food production system.

The growing intensive aquaculture system around the world maintains a high stocking density, wherein it is essential to increase and sustain the optimum dissolved oxygen concentration (DO) through the provision of artificial aeration systems. The selection of an aerator is a crucial aspect of aquaculture operations. The selected aerator must be economically efficient and should be able to fulfill the requirement of oxygen supply in the pond water. The present study provides an extensive literature review on the importance of artificial aeration in aquaculture, the standard method of test for performance evaluation of an aerator, various aeration systems and their mechanisms, method to determine the numbers of aerator requirement, comparative studies of different type of aerators, and economic consideration in selection of aerators. In addition, a thorough analysis has been done to suggest the type of aerator that is economically viable and efficient for different pond volumes based on the performance data reported in the reviews. Therefore, this study may help the end-users (fish farmers) to select the best aerator based on their requirements.