Medidas de Gestao das Pescarias Marinhas e Aquicultura 2019 The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 | Page 164
PART 3 HIGHLIGHTS OF ONGOING STUDIES
Climate-smart aquaculture
pathogens with other microorganisms may
inf luence or drive disease causation) offer novel
ways forward (Stentiford et al., 2017). Genetics
and nutrition also play important roles in
producing healthy, nutritious and resilient hosts.
FAO designed the concept of climate-smart
agriculture (CSA) – which includes aquaculture –
to help develop the technical, policy and
investment conditions needed to achieve
sustainable agricultural development for food
securit y under climate change (FAO, 2017r,
2017s). CSA addresses the triple challenges of
increasing productivit y and adapting to climate
change while reducing or removing greenhouse
gas emissions (mitigation), where possible. CSA
differs from other approaches such as sustainable
intensification of aquaculture in its explicit focus
on addressing climate change and in its aim to
maximize synergies and trade-offs among
productivit y, adaptation and mitigation while
ensuring accessible and nutritious food for all.
While linking competing priorities such as
productivit y and social and environmental
sustainabilit y remains a challenge, some
researchers and fish farmers are already looking
at CSA as an alternative and innovative
adaptation practice for increasing aquaculture
production while avoiding adverse impact on
sustainabilit y. For example, integrated multi-
trophic aquaculture (IMTA) works at the
ecosystem level, uses a combination of fish and
other aquatic animals and plants to remove
particulate and dissolved wastes from fish
farming, and thereby provides a self-sustaining
source of food (Troell et al., 2009).
Cooperative learning and innovative research
programmes (e.g. for more efficacious vaccines,
more sensitive and rapid diagnostic tools, and
biosecurit y strategies using specific pathogen
free [SPF], specific pathogen tolerant [SPT] and
specific pathogen resistant [SPR] stocks) are
needed for long-term biosecurit y management
and sustainable development of aquaculture.
While the number of commercially available fish
vaccines has grown in recent years, there are still
numerous diseases for which vaccines are
unavailable or do not perform well. Shrimp, for
example, cannot be vaccinated as they lack an
adaptive immune system.
An integrated sur veillance programme within the
One Health Platform, which includes study of
antimicrobial usage and antimicrobial genes in
different sectors (human, agriculture, veterinar y,
aquaculture), can improve understanding of the
drivers leading to selection and spread of
antimicrobial resistance in the aquatic
environment. Safer trade and safer practices
should be promoted. The four pillars of the FAO
Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (2016 –
2020) – awareness, evidence, governance and best
practice – are good starting points (FAO, 2016i).
Managing aquaculture operations to achieve the
goals of CSA will require a new, more holistic
view of aquaculture, combining reduction of food
losses and optimization of land, labour, energ y
and other resources with reduction in the
v ulnerabilit y of the sector to climate change and
mitigation of greenhouse gases. Targeted
assistance will be needed to ensure that the most
v ulnerable countries, production systems,
communities and stakeholders have the potential
to develop and apply CSA approaches in
aquaculture. Achieving universal food securit y in
the face of climate change will also require a
transformation of production and consumption
patterns, as called for in the Paris Agreement.
The new target of limiting global warming to
under 2 °C, and aiming for the 1.5 °C mark, will
place greater attention on the carbon footprint of
food systems, which may encourage the use of
Other essential actions include enhancement of
emergency preparedness and provision of
emergency contingency funds; private–public
sector partnership (e.g. for co-financing of
projects, product development, early warning and
disease reporting); and socio-economic
assessments of disease impacts and cost–benefit
analysis of existing biosecurit y programmes and
other alternatives.
A national aquatic animal health strateg y
includes all of the above, the building blocks for
biosecurit y capacit y that is relevant to national
needs at ever y stage. Special attention to the
needs and empowerment of small-scale producers
should be accorded priorit y, as they often lack the
means to undertake the measures needed in any
biosecurit y system.
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