Aquaculture Water Quality for Small-Scale Producers - Aquaculture and the Environment: A Shared Destiny - page 125

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Aquaculture Water Quality
for Small-Scale Producers
Oscar Alatorre-Jácome, Fernando García-Trejo,
Enrique Rico-García and Genaro M. Soto-Zarazúa
C.A. de Ingeniería de Biosistemas, Campus Amazcala,
Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro,
Amazcala, Mpio, El Marqués,C.P.76260, Querétaro, Qro
México
1. Introduction
Today we known that solar energy can be stored as edible biomass by photosynthesis, but
10,000 years ago this assumption was unthinkable. However, the Neolithic man could
developed agriculture, based on plant germination observations. Nowadays, the systems
used for food production are practically the same (Koning et al., 2008). But for neolitican
man, the empirical observation of germination processes and biological cycles of certain
species ended in the discovery of agriculture.
Even our agriculture is still the same, the climate scenario is changing. Our current carbon-
based economy has caused massive greenhouse emissions, and consequences are global
warming and the depletion of the ozone layer. The biological, economical and social impact
on the environment is significant. Water scarcity and natural catastrophes (tsunamis,
earthquakes, floods and erosion) damage cultivable land, reducing local food availability
(Franck et al., 2011, IPCC, 2007).
Clearly, it is necessary the innovation of new food production systems. Aquatic food
production is an alternative to land-based, 2-dimensional systems (Alagaraja, 2007). Due to
physical differences between air and water (thermal conductivity, heat capacity, density, etc),
most aquatic organisms do not use energy in thermal regulation. The consequence is a more
efficient food-tissue conversion ratio compared with land-based system yield (FAO, 2010).
There are limitations, of course. Because overfishing causes fish stock depletion, aquaculture
has become an alternative to provide fish products (Naylor, 2009; Brander, 2007; Pillay et al.,
2003; Naylor, 2000).
The notorious growth in aquaculture has been possible by the application of science.
Aquacultural and fisheries science produce new and replicable knowledge based on
scientific method. The research is usually done in farms or in a laboratory. The mathematical
and analytical methods used by researches are generally robust and provided a verifiable
knowledge. Nevertheless, there is a gap between the scientific results and its practical use.
Lukefar (1999) pointed out that the examples taught on classroom lectures are usually based