Handbook on European Fish Farming

Book excerpt: Aquaculture is one of the fastest way to produce animal protein for growing population in the World. Aquaculture is the art, science, and business of producing aquatic plants and animals useful to humans. Fish farming is an ancient practice and date back as far as 2500 BC. In Europe, fish raised in ponds became a common source of food during the Middle Ages. Today, aquaculture plays a major role in global fish supply. Today, the global community faces financial and economic crisis, climatic changes and the pressing food and nutrition needs of a growing population with finite natural resources. As the world’s population continues to increase over the coming decades, and global living standards rise, demand for fish is set to keep on growing. With most wild capture fisheries already fully exploited, much of that new demand will have to be met from aquaculture. According to FAO estimates, more than 50 % of all fish for human consumption now comes from aquaculture. Aquaculture is one of the most resource-efficient ways to produce protein. Fish come out well because, in general, they convert more of the feed they eat into body mass than livestock animals. Salmon is the most feed-intensive farmed fish to convert feed to body weigt gain and protein followed by chicken. Aquaculture is the controlled cultivation and harvest of aquatic organisms. Most commonly grown are finfish and shellfish, but other aquatic organisms are also cultivated such as seaweed, microalgae, frogs, turtles, alligators, and endangered species. There are many similarities between aquaculture and agriculture, but there are some important differences as well. Aquaculture, like agriculture, is necessary to meet the food demands of a growing global population with diminishing natural fisheries stocks. Aquaculture and agriculture are both farming. However, aquaculture is farming in the water and therefore requires a different set of knowledge, skill, and technology.