AQUACULTURE REVOLUTION – MORE FOOD WITH NUTRIENT RECYCLING
Agriculture was revolutionized with synthetic nitrogen growing more plants in less area. Aquaculture is revolutionized with natural nitrogen (recycled urine) growing more plants in less area. The addition of natural nitrogen to permanent flexible floating reefs (aka ocean forests) creates high-powered ecosystems growing more seafood at lower costs and higher environmental benefits.We estimate that 1,000 people provide sufficient nutrients to grow about 150 wet tons of seafood per year, without adding fishmeal. That would be a half kg of high-protein and high-value seafood per person per day, in the form of an optimally balanced suite of indigenous species, such as snappers, sea urchin, lobster, seabass, anchovies, other finfish, octopi, crabs, shellfish, mollusks, sea cucumbers, seaweed, etc. for local consumption and export.
In ocean forestry, nutrient conversions combine with photosynthesis to add carbon to inorganic nutrients creating food for sea animals. As a result, the flexible floating reef can have an optimally balanced suite of products including macroalgae, shellfish, finfish, and other seafood. Operation using recycled inorganic nutrients and sunlight is less expensive and more easily scaled than when using fishmeal for mariculture. This design addresses major bottlenecks in profitability of offshore aquaculture systems including economical moored structures that can withstand storms; efficient planting, managing and harvesting systems; and sustainable nutrient supply. Additional benefits include reduced disease in fish pens in mariculture, cleaning contaminated coastal waters, and maximizing nutrient recycling.
Globally applied, inorganic nutrient recycling enables expanding aquaculture to these results:
- Maximum scale food: Recycling the inorganic nutrients from a billion people would generate 150 million wet tons of shellfish, mollusks, and free-range finfish per year on a million hectares of flexible reef.
- Inexpensive recycled nutrients - Where there are large human populations and/or excess nutrients, ocean forests may be paid to recycle nutrients as an alternative to nutrient removal at the sewage plant and/or land disposal.
- Maximum scale fuel: Recycling the inorganic nutrients from the energy conversion process allows sustainable biofuel production beyond 100% of global energy demand.
