An overview of the impact of aquaculture on the environment and some its alternative solutions

Aquaculture refers to the farming of aquatic organism that have important role in supplementing global fisheries supplies for the world’s population. However, aquaculture also resulted in some negative impacts to the environment. For example, oyster culture and cage farming have resulted in the excessive production of detritus and sediment. Moreover, waste product of pond farm may leads to eutrophication or hypernutrification thus pollute the water. Furthermore, introducing cultured species from other area is harmful, because it may cause genetic change for that species. One of the most serious concerns of aquaculture to the environment is the destruction of mangrove, wetlands, and other sensitive aquatic habitat. This paper therefore, reviews several ways to minimize the negative impacts of aquaculture; for instance, the use polyculture system and selecting good area that suitable for aquaculture. Thus, pollution in the surrounding area can be reduced and sustainable aquaculture can be achieved. Aquacultura Indonesiana (2011) 12 (1) : 1-6