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Aquaculture

Aquaculture is the farming of:


Aquatic organisms including molluscs,
crustaceans and aquatic plants.

Unlike fishing, aquaculture, is also known


as aqua farming, which implies the
cultivation of aquatic populations under
controlled conditions.
History of Aquaculture
 The ‘Art’ of aquaculture is very old.

 The evidence that Egyptians were probably the first in


the world to culture fish as far back as 2500 B.C. come
from pictorial engravings of an ancient Egyptian tomb
showing tilapia being fished out from an artificial pond.

 Although not as implicit, Egyptian hieroglyphics


indicate the Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom (2052-
1786 B.C.) attempted intensive fish culturing.

 Ancient Chinese manuscripts from the 5th century B.C.


indicate the Chinese practiced fish culture.
 Following in the footsteps of the Egyptians, the
Romans also developed aquaculture practices as they
are known to have cultivated oysters.

 The culture of oysters established by the Romans is


the first known form of aquaculture that has continued
in some form or another to the modern day.

 Fish farming in its modern form was first introduced in


1733 when a German farmer successfully gathered
fish eggs, fertilized them, and then grew and raised
the fish that hatched.

 To do this, male and female trout were collected when


they were ready for spawning.
 The eggs and sperm were pressed from their
bodies and mixed under favorable conditions.
After hatching, the fingerlings were taken to
tanks or ponds in which they were cultivated.

 Initially this "fish farming" was limited to


freshwater fish. In the 20th century new
techniques were developed to successfully
breed saltwater species.
Characteristics of Aquaculture

An important characteristic feature of aquaculture is


that, depending on its intensification, it can be
organized as systems which may be termed as:

a) Extensive:
Adoption of traditional techniques of aquaculture
e.g. dependence on natural productivity and little
control over the stocks.
b) Intensive:
Adoption of full complement of culture techniques including
scientific pond design, fertilization, supplemental feeding or
only feeding without fertilization; full measure of stock
manipulation, disease control, scientific harvesting, high level
inputs and high rate of production.

c) Semi-intensive:
Adoption of mid-level technology, partial dependence on
natural productivity, fertilization, supplementary feeding, with
stock manipulation, medium level inputs and medium rate of
production.
KINDS OF AQUACULTURE
 As habitats of aquaculture, there are three categories of
waters, viz. fresh, salt and brackish.
 Fresh waters, generally abounding in the inland areas of a
country,
 the salt water of the seas and oceans
 And brackish water normally; naturally occurs in estuaries,
deltas of rivers, lagoons and backwaters.

Water salinity based on dissolved salts in parts per thousand (ppt)

Fresh water Brackish water Saline water

< 0.5 0.5 - 35 35 - 50


The different kinds of aquaculture are:

 Static water ponds.

 Running water culture.

 Culture in recirculating systems: in reconditioned


water and in closed systems.

 Culture in rice fields.

 Pen culture, cage culture, are special types of


aquaculture systems
 Finfish-culture cum livestock rearing

 Hanging, ‘on-bottom’ and stick methods of


oyster culture.

 Based on the number of species that are


cultured in a system aquaculture may be
classified into:
(a) monoculture and (b) polyculture.
Monoculture
 Monoculture, as the name implies, in the culture of
a single species of an organism in a culture system
of any intensity, be it in any type of water, fresh,
brackish or salt.

Polyculture
 Polyculture, as the name implies, is the culture of
several species in the same water body. The
culture system generally depends on natural food
of a water body sometime augmented artificially
by fertilization and/or by supplementary feeding. If
artificial food is given it is a common food
acceptable to all or most species that are cultured.

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