Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA)
A special issue of Fishes (ISSN 2410-3888). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Aquaculture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 December 2025 | Viewed by 30
Special Issue Editors
Interests: fish; aquaculture production systems; shrimp farming; sustainable aquaculture
Interests: sustainability; SDGs; bioeconomy; circular economy; aquaculture production systems; nutrient budget
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Aquaculture plays an incredibly important role in fulfilling the needs of our growing population. However, to truly embrace sustainability, we need to rethink existing practices and change some paradigms in the production of aquatic organisms. Innovations based on circularity and restorative and nutrient-sensitive aquaculture should be introduced. Transitioning from a linear economic model to a circular economy is a vital step towards enhancing sustainability and supporting the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.
Integrating species with complementary ecosystem functions and needs within the same culture could provide a viable solution. Innovative systems associating autotrophic organisms, microbes, and suspension- and deposit-feeders with species fed manufactured diets can improve resource efficiency and promote circularity. In integrated systems, by-products, often regarded as worthless waste in monoculture, are utilized as inputs to support the production of other species instead of being discarded into the environment. Therefore, the integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems, which include multi-spatial and multi-niche concepts, address the necessities of the modern world and have huge potential for expansion worldwide.
However, some technological bottlenecks still impair the establishment of commercial farms operating in IMTA, such as the proportion and stocking size of each of the combined species and the optimization of general management and harvesting. Research should be performed to improve the culture of different species in several countries, using the principles of circular bioeconomy. This will support technologies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda.
This Special Issue aims to publish high-quality research on innovative integrated aquaculture systems that focus on the principles of circularity and restorative processes. Studies on the co-culture of aquatic species or the integration of aquatic and terrestrial species are welcome. This includes marine and freshwater systems combining macroalgae, fishes, crustaceans, and molluscs; aquaponics; rice-fish; rice-prawn; and others. In addition, studies focusing on all value chain elements, including processing, trade, and market, are appropriate. We welcome the submissions of original research articles, short communications, and reviews.
Prof. Dr. Patricia Moraes-Valenti
Prof. Dr. Wagner C. Valenti
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fishes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- IMTA
- integrated aquaculture
- nutrient regeneration
- restorative aquaculture
- ecological and symbiotic aquaculture
- aquamimicry
- aquapony
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