Steven Hall
Past President of the Aquacultural Engineering Society and Professor at North Carolina State University
Book Recommendations:
Recommended by Steven Hall
“The field of recirculating aquaculture has grown tremendously over the last twenty years, and this book, developed during those years, reflects not only the current state of the art but a bit of the history and reasoning for recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) in general. The first edition of the book has been seen by many producers, industrial and academic professionals as the book in this area. The second edition has updated many areas of interest and clarified a number of issues. While the authors are well respected academic and research scientists (Timmons is at Cornell University, Ithaca NY), the book is quite accessible for the practitioner. Several other specialists have also contributed to the book by writing or editing chapters and sections. These include Summerfelt and Vinci at Freshwater Institute; Liltved and van Rijn, with European and Mediterranean perspectives; Rakocy, perhaps the world's premier aquaponics expert; and a number of experts in pathology, veterinary medicine, physiology, nutrition and related areas. This enhances the value and seriousness of the book. The book is organized in such a way that preliminary comments on markets, economics, business and other practical aspects lead the way, after which basics such as water quality and various unit operations approaches for maintaining water quality integrate with basics of biology relevant to many species cultured in RAS. Physical and chemical aspects such as fluid mechanics and gas transfer each receive chapters, and process control for water and buildings receive attention in later chapters. Finally, the last few chapters deal with management, health, nutrition and unique applications such as aquaponics. The appendix may be as useful as the text, with numerous tables and charts for basic design of piping, water quality parameters, unit operations and related parameters. Overall the book provides an excellent source of information on many subjects and is well organized. As noted, the appendix includes valuable information from conversion factors to information on many water quality parameters to fish health and mechanical and electrical sizing charts. In short, this book is an excellent text and reference that belongs in the library of any serious aquaculturist and is worth the read for anyone considering starting or expanding an aquaculture business.” (from Amazon)
Michael B. Timmons, Todd Guerdat, Brian J. Vinci(you?)
Michael B. Timmons, Todd Guerdat, Brian J. Vinci(you?)
This is the 4th edition of the book that has become known in the industry as the Yellow book . It addresses the subject of recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). RAS have higher capital and operating costs than most extensive systems such as cage culture in natural waters and raceway and/or pond culture systems. However, when the environmental control provided by recirculating systems and the benefits provided by this environmental control in terms of marketing, waste control, product quality, product availability, and other factors are considered-- then recirculating systems become much more attractive. Thus, this text is designed primarily for recirculating systems, which the authors feel will be the system design of choice for most new aquaculture ventures. This is even more true as the issues of sustainability and economic viability become more intense. Much of the information provided in this text does, however, also apply to open, semi-closed, and closed systems in terms of tank design, hydraulics, fish management, water quality, etc. The objectives of this text are the practical application of aquacultural engineering principles to the design, construction, and management of an aquatic production system. A chapter on aquaponics has also been added with extensive examples. It provides the reader with essential information necessary to get started in aquaculture production and it emphasizes practical information rather than theoretical discussions. It minimizes information on genetics, basic biology, marketing, and all of the other areas important to development of a successful aquaculture operation. Many of these topics are touched on in the text, but are presented only in sufficient detail to allow the reader to understand the relationship of each of these aspects to production of fish. The authors objectives are to provide sufficient information so the reader can: 1) look at a system and make a good judgment as to how well the systems will operate, 2) work with a systems designer to develop an aquatic production system of your own, and 3) know what to look for when shopping for aquacultural production systems.