Aquaculture Production is a Large, Spatially Concentrated Source of Nutrients in Chinese Freshwater and Coastal Seas

Junjie Wang, Arthur H.W. Beusen, Xiaochen Liu, Alexander F. Bouwman*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

As Chinese aquaculture production accounts for over half of the global aquaculture production and has increased by 50% since 2006, there is growing concern about eutrophication caused by aquaculture in China. This paper presents a model-based estimate of nutrient flows in China's aquaculture system during 2006-2017 using provincial scale data, to spatially distribute nutrient loads with a 0.5° resolution. The results indicate that with the increase in fish and shellfish production from 30 to 47 million tonnes (Mt) during 2006-2017, the nitrogen (N) release increased from 1.3 to 2.1 Mt/year and that of phosphorus (P) from 0.14 to 0.23 Mt/year. Nutrient release from freshwater aquaculture was concentrated in Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Hubei, and that from mariculture in Shandong, Fujian, and Guangdong. Aquaculture is an important strongly concentrated nutrient source in both freshwater and marine environments. Its nutrient release is >20% of total nutrient inputs to freshwater environments in some provinces, and nutrients from mariculture are comparable to river nutrient export to Chinese coastal seas. Aquaculture production and nutrient excretions are now comparable to those of livestock production systems in China and need to be accounted for when analyzing causes of eutrophication and harmful algal blooms and possible mitigation strategies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1464-1474
Number of pages11
JournalEnvironmental Science and Technology
Volume54
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Feb 2020

Funding

The authors thank Xiangbin Ran for providing the China Fishery statistical information used in this study. Junjie Wang received support from the China Scholarship Council (CSC grant #201806330024). Alexander F. Bouwman and Arthur H. W. Beusen received support from PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency through in-kind contributions to The New Delta 2014 ALW project nos. 869.15.015 and 869.15.014.

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