Aquaculture exemplifies the ongoing global struggle to strike a sustainable balance between the conflicting needs of a rapidly increasing world population, human health, ecosystem health, the welfare of wild and domesticated animals, and the economic principles of globalized economies. On the one hand, aquaculture has great potential for providing us with a healthy and nutritious food supply whilst alleviating pressure on captive fisheries and reducing fisheries-induced habitat destruction, overfishing, genetic modification of wild populations, and wholesale waste of bycatch. On the other hand, aquaculture relies heavily on clean water, an increasingly precious (and dwindling) resource that is subject to intense pressure of being used for many competing objectives.

This concise primer introduces students to the basic concepts, opportunities, and challenges of aquaculture with an emphasis on ecological considerations. It provides a critical assessment of current aquaculture practices from a broad, interdisciplinary perspective and from the standpoint of how best to align the two major (and often conflicting) goals of future aquaculture development: minimizing reliance on ecosystem services whilst maximizing productivity.

A Primer of Ecological Aquaculture provides an accessible and authoritative overview for a wide range of undergraduate majors ranging from biology, engineering, and environmental policy to business and management. It will also appeal to a more general academic audience who wish to gain a current overview of the field.

 17 Feeds, waste, and stress 17.1 Classification of aquaculture systems based on their inputs and outputs 17.1.1 Management of aquaculture inputs and outputs 17.2 Aquaculture feeds 17.2.1 Live food 17.2.2 Formulated feeds 17.2.3 Nutritional diseases 17.3 Aquaculture waste 17.3.1 Fertilizer-induced eutrophication and hypoxia 17.3.2 Pharmaceuticals and toxins 17.3.3 Waste handling by different aquaculture systems 17.3.4 Mechanical removal of particulate, undissolved waste 17.3.5 Biological recycling and removal of dissolved waste 17.3.6 Wastewater reconditioning by gas exchange and sterilization 17.4 Minimizing stress and maximizing welfare of fish and invertebrates 17.4.1 Common stresses and their symptoms encountered in aquaculture 17.4.2 Indicators of stress 17.4.3 Welfare of aquatic animals Key conclusions References 18 Infectious diseases 18.1 Biosecurity 18.1.1 Infectious disease susceptibility and transmission 18.2 Animal defence mechanisms against infectious diseases 18.2.1 Physical defences of aquaculture animals 18.2.2 Innate immunity of fish and invertebrates 18.2.3 Adaptive immunity of vertebrates 18.3 Viral diseases (viroses) 18.3.1 Viroses of aquaculture animals 18.3.2 Diagnosis and treatment of viroses 18.4 Bacterial diseases (bacterioses) 18.4.1 Bacterioses of aquaculture animals 18.4.2 Diagnosis and treatment of bacterioses 18.5 Fungal diseases (mycoses) 18.5.1 Mycoses of aquaculture animals 18.5.2 Diagnosis and treatment of mycoses 18.6 Diseases caused by protozoans and macroparasites (parasitoses) 18.6.1 Microparasites of aquaculture animals 18.6.2 Macroparasites of aquaculture animals 18.6.3 Diagnosis and treatment of parasitoses 18.7 Disease prophylaxis 18.7.1 Treatment of contamination sources 18.7.2 Regular health monitoring 18.7.3 Behavioural and morphological symptoms of disease 18.7.4 Preventative measures 18.7.5 Generation of disease-resistant strains 18.7.6 Sanitation and hygiene