Recent advancements in sustainable aquaculture: innovative techniques and future prospects

Aquaculture is the world’s fastest-growing industry for food production and serves as a key component in meeting the growing need for animal protein and ensuring food and nutritional security. However, its rapid growth has also led to significant sustainability challenges, such as water scarcity, depletion of feed resources, disease outbreaks, and environmental degradation. To address these issues, numerous management techniques and technological advances are currently underway to make aquaculture more sustainable. Among these, biofloc technology (BFT), recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), aquaponics, and Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) has emerged as a cost-effective approach for intensive production with low water consumption and effective waste control. With the help of automation, IoT-based sensors, and artificial intelligence, precision aquaculture is transforming real-time monitoring and decision- making, increasing resource efficiency and lowering risks. Disease resistance and enhanced stock performance have also been facilitated by developments in genetics and biotechnology. Furthermore, the discovery of sustainable dietary alternatives reducing dependence on limited marine resources. Global case studies show that adopting these technologies not only increases profitability and production, but also maintains ecological balance. In the future, it is anticipated that aquaculture practices will be redefined to be more resilient and climate-friendly due to the confluence of digital technologies, renewable energy, and circular bioeconomy concepts. The article examines these new developments and highlights how they will help provide aquaculture with a sustainable future. By adopting cutting-edge methods, aquaculture could become a major sector in the future.