Controlling pollution from floating cage culture in reservoir and lake using SMART-FCC system

Abstract

Floating net cages culture (FCC) activity is growing rapidly and becoming one of the largest national freshwater fish producers. Most of the lake/reservoir in Indonesia has been utilized for aquaculture in the FCC system. The positive impact of the FCC includes opening up employment opportunities and increasing the income of farmers and labourers leading to the economic improvement of local community. However, there are negative impacts caused by uneaten feed such as water quality degradation, blooming of macrophytes and algae, hydropower turbine damage due to corrosion, a decreased in the abundance of fish species and others. For this reason, environmentally friendly FCC might offer a solution to control or reduce the release of uneaten feed. One of these technologies is SMART FCC that integrates fish culture and hydroponic or called aquaponics systems applied in open waters of reservoirs/lakes. The main advantage of SMART FCC is its ability to reduce FCC waste because the uneaten feed is not dispersed into the waters, rather it is collected and settles in SMART FCC. The deposited wasted feed can be used as liquid organic fertilizer for the hydroponic plants. At the end, the fish farmers get not only harvested fish but also gain additional benefits and profits from organic plant production.