6. Aquaponics: A Commercial Niche for Sustainable Modern Aquaculture

Aquaponics—the combination of recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) and horticulture—has received increasing interest globally as a way to introduce a more circular economy within aqua- and horticulture and hence secure a more resource productive growth with reduced pollution to the environment. However, aquaponics production have mainly been based on small scale low-tech and labor intensive systems built by hobbyist and research units, but during the last decade larger and more complex systems based on modern RAS and hydroponics techniques have been designed and constructed. This new development has mainly been driven forward by researchers and risk taking entrepreneurs worldwide, but commercial oriented production units are emerging with participation of industry partners from both the aqua- and horticultural sectors. The biological dependence is one of the major constraints for going large-scale and commercial. De-coupled aquaponics holds the prospect of reducing or even eliminating the biological dependence, but in the same time acquire the symbiotic benefits of combining fish and plants in a circular production system.