Warmwater Fish Production as a Diversification Strategy for Arable Farmers
Project Status: Ongoing
Type of Project: Research Project
Principal Investigator: Dr David Little, Stirling University (Email)
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Objectives
This research will develop technical guidelines for tilapia production, appropriate to integration within farms as a diversification strategy. The current knowledge/perceptions of industry and consumers will be examined, especially regarding sustainability including health benefits and food safety, costs and risks. Social and economic factors that may facilitate or obstruct consumers’ propensity to access new products will be identified. The comparative advantage of domestic production compared with the potential threat of imports will be explored and sustainability concerns on SME fish farming enterprise decision-making examined.
Research will be conducted both at Stirling University, with commercial partners, and along the marketing chain between producer and ultimate consumers. Techniques will involve mixed methods drawn from qualitative, quantitative and case study approaches from all the disciplines involved. These will include an assessment of production models derived from current and potential systems to identify costs and benefits of using organic, and/or traceable and locally produced feeds. Fish production units within conventional recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) will be compared with those managed as activated suspension technology units (AST) that promise to eliminate negative environmental impacts, improve efficiencies, enhance animal welfare and produce greater amenity value to rural areas. Market assessment will be explored by means of consumer focus groups and in-depth interviews with organisational channel members, including processors, retailers, foodservice and other relevant interest groups. These components will feed into current understanding in respect of production and existing perceptions of food safety, health and dietary communications. Scoping exercises, use of environmental impact assessments (EIAs), environmental health impact assessments (EHIAs) and public health impact assessments (PHIAs) will be used. A sustainability impact assessment (SIA) will then be worked up to help explore and present complex interactions and perhaps competing and conflicting results – drawing on natural and social sciences and tested by marketing. Stakeholder meetings will be used to inform those involved of the research design and outcomes and give opportunities for feedback to the research design and its use in the policy environment.
Publications
Journal Articles
Grady, K., Murray, F., Young, J., Watterson, A. and Little, D. (2005)
Can tilapia be grown successfully in the UK?, Aquaculture News 32, p 14-15
Azim, M.E. and Little, D.C. (2006) ‘Intensifying aquaculture production
through new approaches to manipulating natural food’. CAB Reviews:
Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural
Resources 1, No. 062, 23 pp.
Belton, B., Little, D. and Young, J. (2006) ‘Red tilapia cage
culture in central Thailand’. Aquaculture Asia. Vol.11, No.3,
pp.28-29.
Conference Papers and Presentations
Little, D. (2005) "Warmwater fish production as a niche production
and market diversification strategy" Presentation to RELU
conference Rural Economy and Land Use: The Challenge for Research 19-21
Jan 2005, Birmingham.
http://www.relu.ac.uk/events/Jan05/Presentations/p4
Little.PDF
Azim, M.E. and Little, D.C. (2006) “Production of microbial protein
using activated suspension technique (AST) in artificial ponds”.
Poster presented at AQUA 2006, Florence, Italy, 9-13 May and awarded
1st prize for the best poster presentation.
Azim, M.E., Little, D.C. and Bron, J.E. (2006) “Production of
microbial protein using activated suspension technique (AST) in indoor
tanks” Poster presented at Marie Curie Conference, Manchester,
UK, 10-12 April.
Little, D. et al. (2006) “Warm water fish production as a niche
market & diversification strategy for UK farmers”, Presentation
to RELU/AWM Workshop on Sustainable Food Chains and Rural and Regional
Development, Birmingham, 11 May (by Dave Little and Kathleen Grady but
joint team authorship).
Little, D. (2007) “Do farmers need to change their ideas about diversification?” Presentation to Relu Conference “Unlocking change in the food chain”, London, 7 November.
Rosa, P., Kodithiwakku, S., Young, J. and Little, D. (2007) “Opportunity, necessity and entrepreneurial success: a farming perspective”. Presentation to 4th ASGE International Entrepreneurship Research Exchange, 6-8 February, Brisbane Australia.
Conference Proceedings
Young, J.A., Grady, K., Little, D., Watterson, A. and Murray, F. (2006)
“Multidisciplinary perspectives on an emergent fish product: the
tank of British tilapia”. In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Biennial
Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics &
Trade, July 11-14, 2006, Portsmouth, UK: Rebuilding Fisheries in an
Uncertain Environment. Compiled by Ann L. Shriver. International Institute
of Fisheries Economics & Trade, Corvallis, Oregon, USA, 2006. CD
ROM. ISBN 0-9763432-3-1
Working Papers and Briefing Papers
Murray, F. Boyd, K. Ferguson, P., Leschen, W., Little, D. Young, J. and Watterson, A. (2007) Farmer information Pack.