Aquaponics Systems: Present and Future Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

Ensuring food security and the sustainable management of natural resources are critical challenges, particularly as the global population is projected to reach 10 billion by 2050. The environmental impacts of climate change, water use, and soil degradation make it essential to develop innovative, sustainable food production systems. Aquaponics, which combines the cultivation of aquatic organisms (such as fish, invertebrates, and bivalves) with plants (such as herbs and vegetables) in a recirculating system using fresh, brackish, or seawater is emerging as a key integrated food production process.

We are pleased to invite you to this Special Issue, ‘Aquaponics Systems: Present and Future Challenges’.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present original research that addresses the future challenges related to aquaponics systems, such as the food crisis, food security, and natural resource management, by incorporating circular economy principles into innovative technologies. Using waste from aquatic organisms as plant nutrients significantly reduces the environmental footprint and uses up to 90% less water than traditional crops. Technological innovation in aquaponic systems aims to increase food production, reduce operating costs, and minimise fish waste, thereby improving water quality, the well-being of aquatic organisms and plants, and enhancing nutrient uptake.

The development of innovative techniques such as algaeponics, aeroponics, biofloc technologies, haloponics, and maraponics is enabled by the integration of advanced control and automation technologies. These technologies also enhance the productivity of traditional systems.

This Special Issue invites researchers to present new findings on advanced technologies and innovations in aquaponic systems (freshwater, brackish water, and saltwater), the integration of control and automation to optimise resource management, and the application of circular economy principles to address the challenges related to food security and environmental sustainability.

The topics of interest include the following:

• Ammonia mass balance in aquaponic systems.
• Growth performance of fish and plants.
• Nutrient uptake by plants.

• Nutrition and its impact on aquaponics systems.
• Nutrients and their relation to aquaponic systems.
• Sustainable alternative fish species in aquaponic systems.
• Multitrophic aquaponic systems.
• Polyculture aquaponic systems.

Dr. Nikolaos Vlahos
Dr. Panagiotis Berillis
Guest Editors

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