Part II of Aquaponics in New England discusses how aquaponics can improve the sustainability of produce and fish production. A PDF of the entire paper (Parts I-III) can be downloaded here, including a full list of sources referenced by footnotes.
Improve Sustainability of Local Harvest
Water Use
In addition to providing a sustainable source of fish, aquaponics has other sustainability advantages over traditional farming, hydroponics, and aquaculture. First, these techniques use a lot of water. Traditional aquaculture methods use between 0.57 and 33 cubic meters (m3) of water produce 1 kilogram (kg) of fish, depending on method8 (See Table 2). Research at the University of Virgin Islands has shown that their aquaponics system uses less than half of the water of the most productive aquaculture systems: 0.25 m3/kg.8 On average, aquaponic systems use between 90 and 99% less water than traditional aquaculture systems.9
Aquaponics also uses less water than hydroponic crop production. Aquaponic systems...
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