New research in the Chinese Yellow River Delta has suggested that fish farming may be associated with subsidence and rising sea levels which could be bad news for the industry.
Like many deltas, the coastline of the Yellow River is dominated by aquaculture facilities.
The research team looked at advanced Land Observation Satellite Phased Array L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Envisat Advanced SAR data acquired between 2007 and 2011 which showed that subsidence rates are as high as 250 mm/y at aquaculture facilities, probably due to groundwater pumping.
These rates exceed local and global average sea level rise by nearly 2 orders of magnitude and suggest that subsidence and associated relative sea level rise may present a significant hazard for Asian megadeltas.
This could spell bad news for the Chinese aquaculture industry. Asia and China in particular accounts for most of the world’s aquaculture production.
Sea levels are rising already as a consequence of climate change and this has consequences for aquatic systems and fisheries.
The EU funded Framework Ecosystem Approach to Sustainable Aquaculture (ECASA) says that possible consequences as a result of rising seal levels are severe; loss of areas available for aquaculture and areas that may act as nurseries that supply aquaculture seed. It could also mean saltwateMer intrusion into ground water and consequently reduced freshwater availability.
The research entitled Land subsidence at aquaculture facilities in the Yellow River delta, China, was published in the journal, Geophysical Research Letters.
Mercator Media Ltd 2013