Integrated aquaculture - an old concept with new applications in Greece

In Greece, up until now, monoculture has been the prevailing fish and shellfish farming system. However, in the last few years, the farmers seek to develop alternative production patterns that could improve the economic performance of their farms through the optimal utilisation of the available resources. The concept of integrated aquaculture is old; however during the last 30 years many authors have suggested various production systems, in which different species are cultured together, in order to reduce the environmental impacts of aquaculture and/or to reduce the feeding cost. In particular, people have attempted to integrate mussel and micro- or macro- algae culture into open-sea or land-based fish farming. When certain criteria are met, such integrated systems could improve the sustainability of the farms, mainly through the reduction of the waste treatment cost and the use of the mussels or the algae in the diet of the farmed fish.