GIS and Aquaculture: A tool for spatial decision support

By Zosia Bornik

MSc Candidate, RMES

Background

• Rapid growth of aquaculture worldwide• 1980-87, 13-fold increase in salmon aquaculture

• 1990s, majority of world trade (fresh and frozen salmon)

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. 2001

• In B.C.,• 70% of total national production

• 68,000 tons/yr

• Compare to 23,000 tons/yr wild salmon harvestSource: Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. 2001

• Consolidation of firms• Small-scale, national multinational

• In B.C.,• 1989 50 : 135

• 2003 12 : 121 (5 : 100)

• Major owners Norway, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Canada

Source: Naylor et al. 2003

Salmon farm siting in B.C.

• Mostly prior to • biophysical siting criteria (1987, MAFF)• biophysical suitability study (1989, MAFF)

• “Borrowed” guidelines… Source: Galland, D. 2003

• Concerns about long-term sustainability• disease, escapes, habitat impacts

• Recent (2002) lifting of moratorium on new salmon farms in B.C.• Salmon farm industry predicted to quadruple over the next 10 years!

Source: Gardner and Peterson, 2003

Where does GIS fit in?

• Aquaculture has inherent spatial component• Biophysical and socio-economic

characteristics vary from location to location…

• What worked in Norway may not work in B.C.!

• GIS can provide spatial information for decision-makers • eg. site selection, planning, monitoring

Overview of Talk

• Seven phases of a GIS project • relevance to decision-making in

aquaculture

• Case study: shellfish and finfish aquaculture management in B.C. • Success• Challenges

• Future directions

Seven phases in a GIS project

Nath et al. 2000

End-users

Experts

GIS Analysts

Start

• Identify project requirements• Formulate specifications• Develop analytical framework

• Classification• Overlay• Connectivity (network) analysis• Hierarchical models

• Locate data sources• Organize and manipulate data• Analyze data• Evaluate outputs

Case Study: Shellfish and finfish aquaculture in B.C.

• Locally relevant• Collaborative implementation of tools

and databases• MAFF and LUCO

• Potential for decision-support • site selection• long-term management

Site Criteria Index

• 14 biophysical factors 3 subgroups

• SCI per subgroup• (species-specific)

• Overall SCI: geometric mean

• Assign “capability classes” to each potential location• Good, medium, poor, not-advisable

Some limitations

• Resolution of data

• Use of best available information

• Ownership and pricing issues

• “Active use to meet decision-support needs of a range of clients”? • BCAS site capability maps (no socio-

economic component)

Future directions

• Paradigm shift…

• GIS as a component of larger decision support system

• Software trends

• Internet distribution of data

• Increasing data storage capabilities

• Mobile data collection devices

Future directions cont.

• Migration of GIS tools Academia (theory) Decision-making (practice)

• Training and education• Expand GIS knowledge base to include

decision-makers (end-users)

• expand scope of applications for GIS experts

Conclusions

• Growing trend: using GIS for natural resource management

• GIS and aquaculture: a powerful decision-support tool

• Potential to the way in which AQ decisions are made• Siting and monitoring to reflect ecology

• Need to expand GIS beyond academic realm

End of talk