- Email: [email protected]
Ecological Aquaculture
422
Book reviews
References Laird, L.M., Needham, T. (Eds.), 1988. Salmon and Trout Farming. Ellis-Horwood, Chichester, 271 pp. Pennell, W., Barton, B.A. (Eds.), 1996. Principles of Salmonid Culture. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p. 1039. Willoughby, S., 1999. Manual of Salmonid Farming. Blackwell (Fishing News Books), Oxford, 329 pp.
Malcom Jobling NFH, University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway E-mail address: [email protected] PII: S 0 0 4 4 - 8 4 8 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 3 4 7 - 2
Ecological Aquaculture B.A. Costa-Pierce. Blackwell, Oxford, UK. 2002. 400 pp., price GBP 69.50, ISBN 0632049618 Interesting but not convincing, is how I would describe Ecological Aquaculture by Barry Costa-Pierce and his co-authors. A reasonable conclusion but unexpected, I believe, given that the majority of aquaculturists are very sympathetic to the industrial goal of environmental sustainability and many producers these days need little persuasion to integrate their operations into a more holistic system. But I do not think the 12 papers of this volume collectively make the case for them to think practically about adopting the ecological model. The chapters fail to detail and exemplify all the implications, particularly the economic ones, and some very appropriate case studies which might have made a difference have been overlooked. Not that the chapters are poorly written. On the contrary; all are very informative with an (over) abundance of references. But some topics are rather distant from the thesis of ecological aquaculture, or fail to discuss their relevance to the central purpose. For example, the two chapters which provide the Introduction are an interesting history for any new student of aquaculture, but their contents are not particularly relevant. Neither the freshwater stew-ponds of monastic Europeans in the Middle Ages nor the coastal stew-ponds of the ancient Polynesian chieftains are hardly ecologically efficient (as the authors themselves duly note). Perhaps a more appropriate introduction might have been limited to the ecological parameters of integrated aquaculture systems, with the practices of ancient and modern China as examples, followed by a description of the socio-cultural parameters which will likely have a role implementing sustainable ecological aquaculture systems (vis-a-vis Pollnac in Aquaculture Development in Less Developed Countries, by Smith and Peterson, 1982). Neither of these fundamental sets of factors, or their relevance, is offered and explained. Similarly, I find some of the chapters in the section on Methods of Ecological Aquaculture equally incomplete and frustrating. For the most part they are too specific,
Book reviews
423
and forget the big picture. For example, the first one explains in detail the development of genetic tags and their application to aquaculture. But in practical terms, is this advanced laboratory technology feasible for (remote) coastal communities to implement, and at what cost? How does monitoring and management with genetic markers compare with identification using cheap coded wire tags or PIT tags, which are easy for anyone to handle after a few hours training, and can be read with back-pack equipment in the field? The second chapter deals fairly with the issue of escapement and its consequences, but why only escapement and not the much greater positive and negative impacts of enhancement on ecosystems? After all, escapement is miniscule as it is clearly not what any farmer needs or wants—but what about the deliberate release of billions of juvenile fish year after year from public and private hatcheries? Or the seeding of beds of scallops, or clams, or oysters—all of which are likely to be an important component of any integrated ecological system? In the section of the book called The Context of Ecological Aquaculture, different authors present a range of interesting case studies. The first describes village-based aquaculture ecosystems as a model for Sub-Saharan Africa. The second concerns integrated mangrove forest aquaculture systems (silvofisheries) in several Asian countries, but it is full of so many examples that it unbalances the rest of the volume and fills over a quarter of the pages. This is followed by a chapter on integrated fish and field crops for arid areas, and another on sustainability of cage aquaculture ecosystems (for resettled villagers) in Indonesian reservoirs following construction of hydropower dams. All these chapters are written quite differently, meaning there is no consistency in their contents with respect to a description of the aquaculture technology adapted for the project, the project’s socio-cultural setting, an analysis of the results, and lessons learned, etc. After reviewing these particular case studies, I think many readers will conclude that there is not yet the depth of both real and experimental experience in ecological aquaculture to substantiate the claim by the author that it is the paradigm for the future. But that is not exactly true, and I think the author is selling himself short. It is a mystery to me why the book contains no contribution from Japanese or French sociologists or aquaculturists who have been working with coastal fishers and fish farmers in bays around the country on just such integrated ecological systems. In Japan, for example, a number of projects, with different permutations of parts, have been going on for more than a decade. These have been backed financially by the Japanese government and the coastal fisheries cooperatives which have a controlling interest in any development in their immediate areas, and information has even been published. The legal and administrative frameworks of the coastal fishing communities in Japan have been tidily explained for the western world in the Yamaha Fishery Journal books, and concepts and active projects can be found in Ecology and Management of Coastal Waters (by Barnabe´ and Barnabe´-Quet), with follow-on experimental studies in France. These large-scale community programs in Japan are monitored continuously and analyzed financially, and the economic results may not be so good—according to Dr. Tohru Morikawa, the President of the Japanese Overseas Fishery Consultant Association. In one of his recent lectures on the topic, Morikawa reported that their costs and benefits were sensitive to the local economy, and they were being stringently re-evaluated against the current economic stagnation in the country. This is perhaps the salutary reminder that,
424
Book reviews
just like any other non-subsistence form of food production, ecological aquaculture systems will also have to pay their way. Five of the 12 chapters in Ecological Aquaculture are written by the author; one is jointly written, and the other 6 are contributions from 11 invited colleagues. The value of the book is in the range of interesting information the writers all provide in their respective chapters. But collectively the information is not well focused, and its depth at times is quite disparate; consequently, any logical argument for Ecological Aquaculture, which should progress and intensify through the pages, is unfortunately lost. Colin E. Nash PO Box 4606, Rolling Bay, WA 98061-0606, USA E-mail address: [email protected] PII: S 0 0 4 4 - 8 4 8 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 4 0 0 - 3
Large Marine Ecosystems of the North Atlantic. Changing States and Sustainability Edited by K. Sherman and H.R. Skjoldal. Published by: Elsevier Science B.V. (Amsterdam). (2002). xiv+449 pp., price US$99 or o99, ISBN 0 444 51011 7, ISSN 1570 0461 The book is drawn from the papers presented during the ‘‘Symposium on Changing States of the Large Marine Ecosystems of the North Atlantic and Global Environmental Trends’’ held in Bergen, Norway, 17 – 19 June, 1999. A fact only disclosed on p. 415 when the summing up of the conference is given by G. Hempel augmented with personal comments shown in italics. The book is edited by Kenneth Sherman and Hein Rune Skjoldal. This has been well done; however, it is to be regretted that the editors did not write an introduction to the book, using the summing up by Hempel. The book is now a collection of papers without a common binder dealing with assessments of multidecadal changes in resources and environments of the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) of the North Atlantic. This makes the publication a hybrid of a scholarly book and a symposium proceeding, with an emphasis on the first. It seems the publisher added a preface of about two pages trying to overcome this dualism. Assessments presented of the ecological state of ten LMEs during a period climate change. These LMEs span the east –west extent of the North Atlantic from the U.S. Northeast Shelf to the Scotian Shelf and Newfoundland – Labrador Shelf of North America to the West Greenland Shelf, and the Iceland Shelf, Faroe Plateau, Barents Sea, North Sea, Biscay – Celtic Shelf and Iberian Coast. Using the case study method, researchers examine the forces driving the changes and actions underway aimed at turning the corner from declining trends in biomass yields, toward recovery of depleted species populations and improvements in ecosystem integrity.
Book reviews
References Laird, L.M., Needham, T. (Eds.), 1988. Salmon and Trout Farming. Ellis-Horwood, Chichester, 271 pp. Pennell, W., Barton, B.A. (Eds.), 1996. Principles of Salmonid Culture. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p. 1039. Willoughby, S., 1999. Manual of Salmonid Farming. Blackwell (Fishing News Books), Oxford, 329 pp.
Malcom Jobling NFH, University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway E-mail address: [email protected] PII: S 0 0 4 4 - 8 4 8 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 3 4 7 - 2
Ecological Aquaculture B.A. Costa-Pierce. Blackwell, Oxford, UK. 2002. 400 pp., price GBP 69.50, ISBN 0632049618 Interesting but not convincing, is how I would describe Ecological Aquaculture by Barry Costa-Pierce and his co-authors. A reasonable conclusion but unexpected, I believe, given that the majority of aquaculturists are very sympathetic to the industrial goal of environmental sustainability and many producers these days need little persuasion to integrate their operations into a more holistic system. But I do not think the 12 papers of this volume collectively make the case for them to think practically about adopting the ecological model. The chapters fail to detail and exemplify all the implications, particularly the economic ones, and some very appropriate case studies which might have made a difference have been overlooked. Not that the chapters are poorly written. On the contrary; all are very informative with an (over) abundance of references. But some topics are rather distant from the thesis of ecological aquaculture, or fail to discuss their relevance to the central purpose. For example, the two chapters which provide the Introduction are an interesting history for any new student of aquaculture, but their contents are not particularly relevant. Neither the freshwater stew-ponds of monastic Europeans in the Middle Ages nor the coastal stew-ponds of the ancient Polynesian chieftains are hardly ecologically efficient (as the authors themselves duly note). Perhaps a more appropriate introduction might have been limited to the ecological parameters of integrated aquaculture systems, with the practices of ancient and modern China as examples, followed by a description of the socio-cultural parameters which will likely have a role implementing sustainable ecological aquaculture systems (vis-a-vis Pollnac in Aquaculture Development in Less Developed Countries, by Smith and Peterson, 1982). Neither of these fundamental sets of factors, or their relevance, is offered and explained. Similarly, I find some of the chapters in the section on Methods of Ecological Aquaculture equally incomplete and frustrating. For the most part they are too specific,
Book reviews
423
and forget the big picture. For example, the first one explains in detail the development of genetic tags and their application to aquaculture. But in practical terms, is this advanced laboratory technology feasible for (remote) coastal communities to implement, and at what cost? How does monitoring and management with genetic markers compare with identification using cheap coded wire tags or PIT tags, which are easy for anyone to handle after a few hours training, and can be read with back-pack equipment in the field? The second chapter deals fairly with the issue of escapement and its consequences, but why only escapement and not the much greater positive and negative impacts of enhancement on ecosystems? After all, escapement is miniscule as it is clearly not what any farmer needs or wants—but what about the deliberate release of billions of juvenile fish year after year from public and private hatcheries? Or the seeding of beds of scallops, or clams, or oysters—all of which are likely to be an important component of any integrated ecological system? In the section of the book called The Context of Ecological Aquaculture, different authors present a range of interesting case studies. The first describes village-based aquaculture ecosystems as a model for Sub-Saharan Africa. The second concerns integrated mangrove forest aquaculture systems (silvofisheries) in several Asian countries, but it is full of so many examples that it unbalances the rest of the volume and fills over a quarter of the pages. This is followed by a chapter on integrated fish and field crops for arid areas, and another on sustainability of cage aquaculture ecosystems (for resettled villagers) in Indonesian reservoirs following construction of hydropower dams. All these chapters are written quite differently, meaning there is no consistency in their contents with respect to a description of the aquaculture technology adapted for the project, the project’s socio-cultural setting, an analysis of the results, and lessons learned, etc. After reviewing these particular case studies, I think many readers will conclude that there is not yet the depth of both real and experimental experience in ecological aquaculture to substantiate the claim by the author that it is the paradigm for the future. But that is not exactly true, and I think the author is selling himself short. It is a mystery to me why the book contains no contribution from Japanese or French sociologists or aquaculturists who have been working with coastal fishers and fish farmers in bays around the country on just such integrated ecological systems. In Japan, for example, a number of projects, with different permutations of parts, have been going on for more than a decade. These have been backed financially by the Japanese government and the coastal fisheries cooperatives which have a controlling interest in any development in their immediate areas, and information has even been published. The legal and administrative frameworks of the coastal fishing communities in Japan have been tidily explained for the western world in the Yamaha Fishery Journal books, and concepts and active projects can be found in Ecology and Management of Coastal Waters (by Barnabe´ and Barnabe´-Quet), with follow-on experimental studies in France. These large-scale community programs in Japan are monitored continuously and analyzed financially, and the economic results may not be so good—according to Dr. Tohru Morikawa, the President of the Japanese Overseas Fishery Consultant Association. In one of his recent lectures on the topic, Morikawa reported that their costs and benefits were sensitive to the local economy, and they were being stringently re-evaluated against the current economic stagnation in the country. This is perhaps the salutary reminder that,
424
Book reviews
just like any other non-subsistence form of food production, ecological aquaculture systems will also have to pay their way. Five of the 12 chapters in Ecological Aquaculture are written by the author; one is jointly written, and the other 6 are contributions from 11 invited colleagues. The value of the book is in the range of interesting information the writers all provide in their respective chapters. But collectively the information is not well focused, and its depth at times is quite disparate; consequently, any logical argument for Ecological Aquaculture, which should progress and intensify through the pages, is unfortunately lost. Colin E. Nash PO Box 4606, Rolling Bay, WA 98061-0606, USA E-mail address: [email protected] PII: S 0 0 4 4 - 8 4 8 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 4 0 0 - 3
Large Marine Ecosystems of the North Atlantic. Changing States and Sustainability Edited by K. Sherman and H.R. Skjoldal. Published by: Elsevier Science B.V. (Amsterdam). (2002). xiv+449 pp., price US$99 or o99, ISBN 0 444 51011 7, ISSN 1570 0461 The book is drawn from the papers presented during the ‘‘Symposium on Changing States of the Large Marine Ecosystems of the North Atlantic and Global Environmental Trends’’ held in Bergen, Norway, 17 – 19 June, 1999. A fact only disclosed on p. 415 when the summing up of the conference is given by G. Hempel augmented with personal comments shown in italics. The book is edited by Kenneth Sherman and Hein Rune Skjoldal. This has been well done; however, it is to be regretted that the editors did not write an introduction to the book, using the summing up by Hempel. The book is now a collection of papers without a common binder dealing with assessments of multidecadal changes in resources and environments of the Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) of the North Atlantic. This makes the publication a hybrid of a scholarly book and a symposium proceeding, with an emphasis on the first. It seems the publisher added a preface of about two pages trying to overcome this dualism. Assessments presented of the ecological state of ten LMEs during a period climate change. These LMEs span the east –west extent of the North Atlantic from the U.S. Northeast Shelf to the Scotian Shelf and Newfoundland – Labrador Shelf of North America to the West Greenland Shelf, and the Iceland Shelf, Faroe Plateau, Barents Sea, North Sea, Biscay – Celtic Shelf and Iberian Coast. Using the case study method, researchers examine the forces driving the changes and actions underway aimed at turning the corner from declining trends in biomass yields, toward recovery of depleted species populations and improvements in ecosystem integrity.