Environmental
Damage |
Environmental Statement - J. W. Aquaculture (Research)
Ltd
For the past 18 months, J. W. Aquaculture (Research) Ltd has been
engaged in a research project, investigating the commercial feasibility
of culturing the European Shore Crab, onshore in holding tanks.
Our main raw materials are wild collected crabs for research and
breeding stock and feeds of various types including Rotifers, Artemia,
Mollusc flesh, Squid, Fish and Fishmeal. We recognise that the use
of fishmeal in Aquaculture is damaging to the fish stocks of the
oceans and is unsustainable and therefore endeavour to minimise
its use, with a long-term strategy of its total replacement with
sustainable forms of feed.
Our operations during this period have resulted in us using around
33,000 kWh of mains electricity, which released over 14,000 kg of
the greenhouse gas, Carbon Di Oxide, into the atmosphere during
its generation. We also use a lot of water, a precious natural resource,
which is discharged after use, during the 18 month period, this
has amounted to over 43,000 m3. We employ a number of overlapping
techniques to ensure this effluent is as clean as possible and have
at all times met the strict criteria laid down in our discharge
licence. We have a diesel powered generator, which has not run this
year, but non-the-less produces greenhouse gasses should it do so.
Recognising
that the widespread use of antibiotics in farming and healthcare
is causing bacterial strains to become immune to their use, we have
adopted a policy not to use antibiotics, as they could be discharged
along with our effluent into the wild. We do not use toxic chemicals
in order to avoid accidental discharge from our facility.
As with all businesses, we do produce a small amount of waste, which
we continually strive to minimise. At present, we believe that all
our waste goes to landfill, via authorised waste collection companies.
As a research company, we only produce a small quantity of finished
product; we therefore only use small amounts of packaging material
such as polystyrene boxes to protect any product we sell.
Over the 18 month period we have fitted filtration screens to both
Nursery and Shedding systems effluent streams to reduce effluent
organic solids loading. We have also fitted mesh screens to the
outlet pipework from our facilities in order to ensure the organisms
cultured at our farm, though an indigenous species, do not escape
into the wild. We have linked up with the school of biological sciences
at the University of Wales, Swansea, in order to reduce the risk
of having parasites and disease in our cultured stock.
We monitor Energy Consumption and waste production on a monthly
basis in order to better understand the effects of the business
on the environment and quantify the impact of any changes made in
our operations.
Lloyd Watkins
Managing Director 20
August 2004
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