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Land and nature stewardship
Aquaculture is the growing of human food, both plant and animal, in water. It may also refer to the conscious creation of aquatic environments.
Current fish farming has much in common with battery chicken egg production, and intensive salmon farms create ecological damage with the use of chemicals to control parasites, and pellet food sourced from species taken from wider seas. In terms of ecological and energy efficiency, greater productivity can be achieved in a sustainable way by creating beneficial relationships between aquaculture and other elements in the landscape, eating lower down the food chain (e.g plants or omnivorous fish), and using polyculture to 'fill as many niches' as possible.
In agriculture it is normal practice for regular soil tests to be conducted in order to modify and improve the soil medium. It is logical that a similar system should apply to freshwater systems.
Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) provides the by-products, including waste, from one aquatic species as inputs (fertilisers, food) for another.