Unit of Agroecology, Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran.
Unit of Agroecology, Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Dec 15;904:166195. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166195. Epub 2023 Aug 17.
Aquaculture is a form of agriculture that is practised in the Sistan region. This practice not only enhances water usage efficiency but also generates additional income for the local farmers. The extensive dependence of the aquaculture sector on energy and chemicals poses a jeopardises environmental stability and endangers the sustainability of production in the long run. The study employs emergy footprint accounting to assess the relationship between input flows and the ecological security of sustainable aquatic production in the region, across different fish farming systems, including semi-natural, concrete, and galvanised ponds. To achieve the desired outcomes, the emergy footprint accounting method requires comprehensive data on both environmental and economic inputs. The present investigation spanned four years, from 2018 to 2021. We obtained the data for this study from multiple sources, including surveys of fish farmers, expert opinions from media reports, and meteorological data obtained from weather stations located in the Sistan region. The study findings suggest that fish farming in semi-natural ponds has an ecological surplus when compared to the other two systems, owing to its higher emergy biocapacity in relation to its emergy footprint. However, it is noteworthy that semi-natural fish farming exhibited a more pronounced adverse effect on non-renewable environmental resources and resulted in the elimination of their supporting function, in comparison to the other two farming systems. This phenomenon occurred less frequently in ponds made of concrete and galvanised material. However, the ecological impact generated by these ponds surpassed their biocapacity, leading to an ecological deficit, insecurity, and exertion on the surrounding ecosystem. The findings suggest that enhancing the efficient utilisation of inputs in both concrete and galvanised ponds can lead to improved sustainability and ecological safety of their production. The adoption of strategies such as augmenting the size of juvenile fish to curtail the duration of aquaculture production in semi-natural fish farming is expected to have a limited effect on non-renewable ecological resources.
水产养殖是锡斯坦地区的一种农业形式。这种做法不仅提高了水的利用效率，还为当地农民增加了收入。水产养殖部门对能源和化学品的广泛依赖，不仅对环境稳定构成了威胁，而且从长远来看，也危及了生产的可持续性。本研究采用能值足迹核算方法，评估了不同鱼类养殖系统（包括半自然池塘、混凝土池塘和镀锌池塘）中投入流与可持续水产养殖生态安全之间的关系。为了达到预期的结果，能值足迹核算方法需要全面了解环境和经济投入的数据。本研究跨越了四年时间，从 2018 年到 2021 年。我们从多个来源获取了本研究的数据，包括对鱼类养殖户的调查、媒体报道的专家意见以及位于锡斯坦地区的气象站获得的气象数据。研究结果表明，与其他两种系统相比，半自然池塘养殖的生态盈余更高，因为它的能值生物承载力相对于能值足迹更高。然而，值得注意的是，与其他两种养殖系统相比，半自然鱼类养殖对不可再生环境资源的负面影响更为明显，导致其支持功能丧失。这种现象在混凝土和镀锌池塘中较少发生。然而，这些池塘产生的生态影响超过了它们的生物承载力，导致生态赤字、不安全和对周围生态系统的压力。研究结果表明，提高混凝土和镀锌池塘中投入的利用效率可以提高其生产的可持续性和生态安全性。增加幼鱼的大小以缩短半自然鱼类养殖的养殖周期等策略的采用，预计对不可再生生态资源的影响有限。
