GIS and Aquaculture: A tool for spatial decision support By Zosia Bornik MSc Candidate, RMES

Background Rapid growth of aquaculture worldwide In B.C., 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 harvest Source: Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. 2001

Consolidation of firms In B.C., 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 Start GIS Analysts Experts End-users Nath et al. 2000

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