What Is Aquaculture?

What is aquaculture?

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines aquaculture as “the farming of aquatic organisms, including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Farming implies some form of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators, etc. Farming also implies individual or corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated.”

In short, aquaculture is defined as the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of fish, shellfish, algae, and other organisms in all types of water environments.

Where is aquaculture most practiced?

From an activity that was primarily Asian, aquaculture has now spread to all the continents. The top ten aquaculture producers in the world as per the research conducted by FAO are China, India, Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Viet Nam, Thailand, Korea, Bangladesh and Chile.

What are the types of aquaculture?

The type of aquaculture practiced depends on hydrobiological features, motive of the farming and special operational techniques.

The following are the main types of aquaculture practices:

Mariculture

Water Encyclopedia defines mariculture as “the farming of aquatic plants and animals in salt water”. The major categories of mariculture species are seaweeds, mollusks, crustaceans, and finfish.

Fish Farming

Fish Farming involves the selective breeding of fish, either in freshwater or seawater, with the purpose of producing a food source for consumption. The process is less land intensive as the size of ponds required to grow some fish species such as tilapia is much smaller than the space required to grow the same amount of protein from beef cattle.

Algaculture

Algaculture is a form of aquaculture involving the farming of species of algae. Most algae that are intentionally cultivated fall into the category of microalgae (also referred to as phytoplankton, microphytes, or planktonic algae).

Inland Pond Culture

This usually involves inland artificial ponds of about twenty acres in size and about 6-8ft deep. It is common to see aeration systems connected to the pond, to introduce air into the ponds. This usually involves inland artificial ponds of about twenty acres in size and about 6-8ft deep. It is common to see aeration systems connected to the pond, to introduce air into the ponds.

Recirculating Systems

This involves a closed set of chambers (units) where fish is kept in one and water treatment kept in another. It is highly dependent on the power supply, as water must be pumped constantly through the fish chambers. As water flows through the treatment chamber, particulate matter is filtered out and air introduced. This closed system controls the salinity, temperature, oxygen and anything that can cause harm to the fish. It is an environmentally friendly system because very little new water is introduced to replace water that evaporated.

Open-net pen and Cage Systems

Open-net pen and Cage systems are often found offshore and in freshwater lakes. Mesh cages of between 6 and 60 cubic feet (pens) are installed in the water with the fish inside it. With a high concentration of fish in the pens, waste, chemicals, parasites and diseases are often exchanged in the immediate water environments.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *