Climate Change and Fish Farming: Venetian “Fish Valleys” as a Design Device for Coastal Adaptation and Mitigation

Abstract

Beginning in the fourteenth century, along the northeastern Italian coastline, Venetians began to create a series of hydraulic structures called “fishing valleys,” which combined aquaculture production with lagoon and seawater management. According to the current scenarios provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the coastal areas, where many historic fish farms still stand, will inevitably be affected by the rise in sea level. To be preserved, coastlines will require some sort of water defense or possibly a managed retreat. Can we redesign traditional fish-farm systems as climate, economic and environmental adaptation devices? Through a series of design scenarios, this contribution explores how traditional fish farming can help redefine the territorial scale by addressing climate change and reviving existing production systems.