Abstract
Moving from a linear to a circular economy (CE) is perceived a way to reduce the environmental impacts of human activities, including those of (blue)food productions, by closing materials and energy loops, and by implementing transformational changes in production and consumption. CE and its principles are still underexplored in aquaculture, although its fundamentals (i.e., reduce, reuse, recycle, recover) have already been largely applied. A recent study presented a set of 5 principles applicable to food and non-food systems to guide biomass use towards a circular bioeconomy (Muscat et al., 2021): safeguarding and regenerating the health of our agroecosystems; avoiding non-essential products and the waste of essential ones; prioritizing biomass streams for basic human needs; utilizing and recycling by-products of agroecosystems; and using renewable energy while minimizing overall energy use. Most of the examples provided by the authors were based on terrestrial food production systems (i.e., agriculture and livestock), questioning therefore their applicability to the aquaculture sector and their novelty in comparison to well-known sustainability schemes.
The main objective of this study is to transpose the 5 principles developed by Muscat et al. (2021) to the field of aquaculture, identifying the implications of a transition towards more circularity in aquaculture and highlighting current knowledge gaps to initiate this transition. We performed a literature review to address several questions emerging from the CE paradigm including: Which aquaculture forms and what farming practices can safeguard and regenerate the health of our aquaecosystems? What makes aquatic products essential, and where and for whom are they essential? Are all aquaculture products equally essential? Given the use of human-edible ingredients in aquafeed, what is the net contribution of aquaculture products to human food provision? How can the aquaculture sector be used as a sink to recycle by-products from the food system and close nutrient loops at farm, or higher levels (e.g., territory)? What are the main levers to reduce the energy footprint of aquaculture products?
References
Muscat, A., de Olde, E. M., Ripoll-Bosch, R., Van Zanten, H. H. E., Metze, T. A. P., Termeer, C. J. A. M., van Ittersum, M. K., et al. 2021. Principles, drivers and opportunities of a circular bioeconomy. Nature Food 2021 2:8, 2: 561–566. Nature Publishing Group.