Integrated aquaculture encompasses a wide variety of practices and operations that includes salt, fresh and brackish water conditions, land-based and open-water systems, and fixed and free-floating equipment. The design of integrated aquaculture systems is predicated on the location of each operation, whereby the ecological region will indicate the catalog of potential species to be cultivated, and the specific locale influences operation-specific dynamics.
A multi-trophic polyculture operation, as seen above, strategically places each species at their preferred depth in the water column, maximizing growth and harvest stability. Things like water temperature and depth, wind and tide are all to be considered when designing an efficient system.
