Aquaponie : associer aquaculture et production végétale

This is the only French-language book to come out of public research, and you can tell from the introduction onwards. It starts with aquaculture, its worldwide growth and the criticism it draws, in order to place aquaponics among the possible answers, alongside recirculating systems and integrated multitrophic aquaculture. Aquaponics is therefore presented not as a gardener's hobby but as a production method to be assessed.

The four chapters move from the concept towards implementation. The first sets out the approaches and the scales, then contrasts coupled and decoupled systems, a distinction most mainstream guides pass over in silence. The second deals separately with the three compartments, fish, plant and bacteria, each with its own husbandry and its own constraints. The third gets into sizing and into the physical and chemical parameters of the water, taking it as read that running a system is a series of trade-offs. The last chapter, rarer still, covers the French and European regulatory framework, the health rules and economic viability.