Aquaculture

Aquaculture is a fairly new process in the modern world.  When we describe aquaculture we are usually talking about the farming of fish, but it can involve aquatic plants, oysters, clams and even crayfish.  Aquaculture is seeing a lot of growth across the word just recently.  With the worlds ever growing population and seemly exponentially growing need for meat, we are looking to aquaculture for answers.  Fish are one of the most efficient animals to raise.  They require much less resources than cows, pigs, or most other sources of meat.  Currently a great portion of our fish is coming from the natural environment.  And there is a sustainable way to harvest fish.  However we have done a great amount of damage due to overfishing.  These are the reasons aquaculture is exploding.  The process of aquaculture is really quiet simple.  There are a variety of ways to grow fish in particular.  The simplest way is simply in an outdoor pound.  This also happens to be the most environmentally friendly way.  Although you may not have as much yields as you would other methods.  The downside to this is that you do not have complete control over the environment, and fluctuating temperatures can be a danger.  Also outdoor predators and parasites can effect fish population.  The second method and the one most growing in popularity is the indoor tank method.  This method consists of large indoor tanks, but takes up much less space than a pound.  You can also grow the fish in much higher densities.  You have control over water temperature, food distribution, etc.  These systems are expensive to build and require a relatively high amount of energy to run.  However they can be built virtually anywhere, and because they are usually indoors climate is not as much of a factor.  Also you can use bio-filters to convert fish waste to nitrates.  This can than be used to grow plants.

  The third main way to do aquaculture is to have a netted or caged area in a large body of water.  This can means a pound or even the ocean.  New Zealand is a country that is currently exploring the netted method.  You can raise a variety of species in the ocean, in a habitat similar to what they would be in in the wild.  Food has to be supplied but water temperature and other factors are natural.  This is a relatively low cost method in smaller scales and if closer to shore were it is easily reached.  The downside to this is the ocean can have violent whether.  Your enclosure has to be able to sustain harsh conditions it may be exposed to.  Existing floating fish farms have also experienced some problems with predators of the ocean.  This method can put the fish in the way of sharks, birds, and in some cases, humans.  People have been caught fishing in these floating cages and arrested.  With muscles and other similar animals, they are often grown on grates or screens.  Because the animals are filter feeders, they do not cost anything to feed.  This is a relatively environmentally friendly operation because muscles actually filter the water and the operation produces little waste.  The downside is they take a long time to grow and produce relatively low yields.  Overall aquaculture is an expanding field and will be growing in popularity as it becomes more efficient.