Integrated Aquatic Food Systems (KB-35-101-001)

Ending world hunger is an important goal of the United Nations’ SDG-2, which aims to ensure that by 2030 everyone has access to sufficient nutritious food. Marine food sources are still only marginally included in this effort, particularly organisms low in the food chain that offer potential for more sustainable food production. This project will therefore focus on the gap in sustainable aquaculture and the use of marine food resources.

Marine coastal areas, characterized by strong environmental gradients from land to sea, present opportunities to be better utilized through a zoned approach and an integrated landscape perspective. We will investigate and support the development of sustainable cultivation of seaweed, shrimp, and fish in mono- or polycultures from a landscape perspective along an environmental gradient of a tropical coast. Based on previous research and familiarity with various farming systems, we have chosen Indonesia as a case study for integration at the landscape level. From this landscape-integrated case, we will develop new insights into the potential contribution of sustainably farmed marine food sources to global food security, particularly in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).

Due to feed conversion losses, vulnerability to diseases, habitat loss, and polluted wastewater, some farming systems in modern aquaculture based on carnivorous and omnivorous fish and shellfish have not been sustainable in certain regions. Seaweed cultivation, among others, offers significant potential, especially for sustainability, which provides a major opportunity to restore the balance between economy and ecology in areas where overexploitation of natural systems is ongoing or has already caused severe damage. Sustainability will be achieved through combined aquaculture (IMTA: Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture). By combining fish, shrimp, and seaweed in cultures, the impact on climate and the environment is reduced, and farmers’ incomes are generally higher. This is partly because more can be produced on the same surface area, less maintenance is required for the systems—resulting in lower labor costs—as well as reduced need for animal feed and disease control, which are typically major cost factors in intensive aquaculture.

In the coming two years, the work will build on the expertise already gained from systems in Indonesia, while also translating these insights to the global context of sustainable food production. In this translation, the systems in Indonesia will serve as the model system for further development.