Risks and Opportunities for Sustainable Aquaculture (ROSA)

悬浮饲养双壳贝类（即贻贝、牡蛎、贝、蛤、扇贝）的水产养殖是所有食品生产部门中增长最快的，对英国经济的直接贡献超过5亿英镑，具有更大的乘数效应，预计在未来十年都将显著增长。尽管有这些贡献，但我们缺乏一个明确的国家路线图来描述如何优化该部门的增长和整合，以及目前在沿海地区开展的各种活动。水产养殖对海洋环境既有积极影响，也有消极影响。特别是对一个地区的任何过度开发都可能对商业生产力和生态系统健康产生严重影响。因此，英国水产养殖业务必须符合严格的控制，包括环境影响评估。ROSA的目标是制定管理战略，以实现可持续发展，平衡潜在利益（例如改善水质、减轻生物多样性丧失、经济活动）与风险（例如由于农场选址和种子收集而造成的栖息地丧失）。这些知识对于成功推广、社会接受和行业发展至关重要。水产养殖成功的一个关键因素是养殖物种的适宜性。这取决于许多因素，包括生长速度、生产成本、市场价格、地点和抗病能力。评估这些问题是复杂的，因为贝类对温度、盐度、食物供应和食物成分的波动反应高度敏感，这在大多数水产养殖发生的近岸环境中经常发生。这些反应不仅影响贝类种群的增长，而且影响水产养殖所在的每个宿主生态系统的能力。随着环境动态的变化，例如气候变化，水产养殖的风险和机遇几乎肯定会发生变化。因此，养殖的物种和相关的养殖实践也可能不得不改变。因此，我们必须考虑环境变化的潜在风险和利益；解决直接影响，如温度升高，暴风雨，暴露在风浪中，加上有害藻华事件的频率。同样重要的是要确定地点和文化实践，以尽量减少对当地和区域的影响。只有建立悬浮饲养贝类与生态系统相互作用的模型，才能切实评估其对环境的影响和养殖能力。我们建议在代表英国水产养殖部门的定制和便携式桌面模型工具中启用这种建模。这将利用现有的最佳科学和工具，实现这种综合方法的潜力，在根据用户需求量身定制的GIS决策支持平台内解决时空变化。这将首次在从个体农场到区域水域的范围内，使人们能够预测生境适宜性和养殖实践之间相互关系可能造成的风险。为确保立即适用，该工具将在与水产养殖业及其监管机构直接协商的情况下开发。

The aquaculture of suspension-feeding bivalve shellfish (i.e. mussels, oysters, cockles, clams, scallops) is among the fastest-growing of all food-producing sectors, making a direct contribution of more than £500 million to the UK economy , with much greater multiplier effects, all projected to grow significantly in the coming decade. Despite these contributions, we lack a clear national roadmap that describes how to optimise the growth and integration of this sector with diverse activities now taking place in the coastal zone. Aquaculture may have both positive and negative impacts on the marine environment. In particular any overexploitation of an area may have severe effects on commercial productivity and ecosystem health. Consequently UK aquaculture operations are required to conform to strict controls including an environmental impact assessment. The goal of ROSA is to develop management strategies which will allow sustainable development, balancing the potential benefits (e.g. improved water quality, mitigation of biodiversity loss, economic activity) with the risks (e.g. loss of habitat due to both siting of farms and seed collection). Such knowledge is vital for successful promotion, societal acceptance and development of the industry.A key factor for successful aquaculture is the suitability of farmed species. This depends upon a number of factors including growth rate, cost of production, market price, site location and resistance to disease. Assessing these issues is complicated, because shellfish are highly responsive to fluctuations in temperature, salinity, food availability and food composition, as frequently occur in near-shore environments where most aquaculture takes place. These responses not only affect shellfish population growth, but also the capacity of each host ecosystem within which aquaculture is situated. As environmental dynamics alter, for example due to climate change, the risks and opportunities for aquaculture are almost certain to change. As a result, the species farmed and associated culture practice may also have to change. Consequently, we must consider the potential risks and benefits of environmental change; addressing direct impacts such as increasing temperature, storminess, exposure to wind and waves, plus frequency of harmful algal bloom events. It is also important to identify locations and culture practices that minimise impacts at local and regional scales. Only by modelling how suspension-feeding shellfish interact with ecosystem processes, can environmental impacts of and capacities for culture be realistically assessed. We propose to enable such modelling within a bespoke and portable desktop-based model tool on behalf of the UK aquaculture sector. This will draw upon the best available science and tools, realising the potential of this integrated approach to resolve temporal and spatial variations within a GIS decision support platform tailored according to user requirements. For the first time, at scales ranging from individual farms to regional waters, this will enable the projection of likely risks resulting from interrelations between habitat suitability and culture practise. To ensure immediate applied relevance, the tool will be developed in direct consultation with the aquaculture industry and its regulators.