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Sowing Seeds in the City pp 293–308Cite as

Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) and Aquaponics for Urban Food Production, with a Pictorial Guide to Aquaponics

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Abstract

As wild-caught fish landings plateau and the global population grows, aquaculture has emerged as the fastest-growing agricultural sector. In the context of urbanization, we present the challenges and opportunities surrounding fish farming in its various forms. Intensive, highly controlled recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) treat and recycle fish effluent to maximize fish yields while conserving water. As a subset of RAS, aquaponic systems further enhance water use efficiency and reduce waste by including a hydroponic component that produces marketable plant crops. We discuss details of aquaponic system design and operation and provide a pictorial guide to the aquaponic system at the Rutgers EcoComplex.

Pictures and captions provided by: David Specca

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Acknowledgment

The authors would like the thank the USDA for providing funding support through NIFA’s Hispanic Serving Institutions Higher Education Grant # 2011-38422-30804.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agroecology Program, Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th St, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Miles Medina, Krish Jayachandran & Mahadev Bhat

  2. Bioenergy Technologies & Controlled Environment Ag EcoComplex, Rutgers University, Brunswick, NJ, USA

    David Specca

Authors
  1. Miles Medina
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  2. Krish Jayachandran
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  3. Mahadev Bhat
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  4. David Specca
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miles Medina .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Sally Brown

  2. Harvest Pierce County, Pierce Conservation District, Puyallup, Washington, USA

    Kristen McIvor

  3. Department of Health Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, Alaska, USA

    Elizabeth Hodges Snyder

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Medina, M., Jayachandran, K., Bhat, M., Specca, D. (2016). Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) and Aquaponics for Urban Food Production, with a Pictorial Guide to Aquaponics. In: Brown, S., McIvor, K., Hodges Snyder, E. (eds) Sowing Seeds in the City. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7453-6_21

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