Design and evaluation of aquaculture solid waste as an organic compost fertilizer

水产养殖是增长最快的食品生产部门之一，因为传统渔业的减少和消费者对水产养殖产品的需求增加。与此同时，水产养殖业不得不制定各种管理战略，例如安装水循环系统，以捕获和处理排放的废物，以满足环境监管要求。虽然这符合废物管理法规并防止当地水道的富营养化，但也导致水产养殖公司的固体废物处理成本很高。因此，确定这种废物的潜在用途是水产养殖业所需要和感兴趣的。水生固体废物被建议用作有机堆肥肥料，因为固体废物是氨，硝酸盐和磷的良好来源，可以有益于作物生产。然而，目前尚不清楚水产养殖固体废物是否适合作物生产，以及将其用作有机堆肥肥料的潜在好处。由于这一需求，可持续渔业加拿大有限公司（SFF），一个基于陆地的大西洋鲑鱼（萨尔莫salar）水产养殖生产商，正在寻求与新斯科舍省社区学院合作，以确定他们的固体废物是否是有用的有机堆肥肥料的西红柿和生菜作物。此外，部分研究还将确定哪种水产养殖固体废物流（小鲑鱼前或小鲑鱼后）更适合开发用于作物生产的堆肥。总的来说，如果发现水产养殖有机固体废物是一种有用的高端商业专用堆肥肥料，这将把废物产品变成一种可行的商业产品，为公司带来新的收入来源。

Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food production sectors due to the decline in traditional fisheries and increased demand in consumer-based aquaculture products. Coinciding with this growth, the aquaculture industry has had to develop various management strategies, such as installing water recirculation systems to capture and treat discharged wastes to meet environmental regulatory demands. While this addresses waste management regulations and prevents eutrophication in local waterways, it also results in large solid waste disposal costs for aquaculture companies. Thus, determining potential uses of this waste is of need and interest to the aquaculture industry. Aquaculture solid waste has been suggested to be used as an organic compost fertilizer because the solid waste is a good source of ammonia, nitrate, and phosphorus that could benefit crop production. However, it remains unclear if aquaculture solid waste is suitable for crop production and what the potential benefits are using it as an organic compost fertilizer. As a result of this need, Sustainable Fish Farming Canada Ltd (SFF), a land based aquaculture producer of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), is looking to partner with Nova Scotia Community College to determine if their solid waste is useful organic compost fertilizer for tomatoes and lettuce crops. In addition, part of the research will also determine which aquaculture solid waste stream (pre-smolt or post-smolt) is more suitable for development of a compost for crop production. Overall, if aquaculture organic solid waste is found to be a useful high-end commercial specialty compost fertilizer, this would turn a waste product into a viable commercial product resulting in a new revenue stream for the company.