The Changing Focus of the Ecological Risk Assessment of Aquaculture Operations: From Local to Cumulative Risk Assessment

Ecological risk assessment (ERA) methodologies must be continually improved so that resource managers, activity proponents, and stakeholders can better manage the environmental impacts of human activities. One of the largest challenges facing ERA methodologies and approaches is to develop the ability to encompass cumulative and far-field effects of human activities. It is argued here that the ERAs of industrial aquaculture activities have been an example of where ERA practitioners and researchers have responded to the challenge of managing the cumulative risks of a new and rapidly growing industry by developing innovative ERA approaches that can be applied elsewhere.