Intro/history of Aquaculture

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Intro/history of Aquaculture

• Aquaculture
• The art and science of rearing aquatic organisms
  (finfish, shellfish, aquatic reptiles,
  amphibians, and plants) under controlled
  conditions.
• History of Aquaculture
• First practiced by the Chinese 3,500 to 4,000
  years ago
• Oysters were farmed in Japan about 3,000 years
  ago and by the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago

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Intro/history of Aquaculture

• United States/North America
•  1850s - first attempt at artificial propagation
  (Dr. Theodatus Garlick)
• - Brook trout
• Spring fed ponds (Cleveland, Ohio)
• 1864
• 1866 - First public hatchery was built in New
  York
• Atlantic Salmon fry produced for enhancement
  efforts on the Merrimac River
• High profits -

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Intro/history of Aquaculture

• 1870 - Formation of the American Fish Cultural
  Society
• Began to apply the scientific method to
  aquaculture production
• 19th century

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Commercial (foodfish) production
• Followed AFS development and used techniques and
  methods established through government and
  academic research
• Foodfish production worldwide

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Important culture species (3 phyla represented)
• Mollusca
• Arthropoda (crustaceans)
• Chordata

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Aquaculture

• Mollusca
• Scallops
• Abalone

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Aquaculture

• Important culture species
• Arthropoda (crustaceans)
• Lobster

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Aquaculture

• Important culture species
• Chordata
• Channel catfish
• Atlantic salmon
• Tilapia
• Carp

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Aquaculture

• Aquaculture (fish and shellfish)
• Global production has doubled in past 15 years
• gt 220 species of finfish and shellfish are
  farmed
• US (commercial finfish)
• Production estimates (1991) 543,770 tons valued
  at approximately 750,250,000

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Aquaculture

• Catfish - Dominant species cultured in United
  States
• In late 1950s the methodology for catfish culture
  in the US was developed
• At that time, it was demonstrated that a profit
  could be made if producers received 1.10/kg
• Today

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Aquaculture

• Rainbow trout
• Important species in the US, Northern Europe,
  Chile, etc.
•  
• Freshwater
• Also raised in other regions for food and sport.
•  
• Australia (Tasmania)
• New Zealand

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Aquaculture

• Rainbow trout
• Idaho is one of the major trout producing region
  in US/world.
•  
• Constant temperature (15oC) spring water
  year-round
• 1980-3,400 tons/yr. 1990s gt 10,000 tons/yr.

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Aquaculture

• Atlantic Salmon
• Industry has rapidly expanded in last decade
• High tech
• Net pen culture (primarily foodfish)

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Aquaculture

• Other commercial species
• Ornamental species
• Florida raise gt 100 species
• gt100 million/yr (1998)
• Value

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Aquaculture

• Carp and Tilapia
• Important species in Middle East, China, Japan,
  etc.
• Grass Carp (in US)
• Aquatic vegetation control
• Tilapia
• Often used as protein supplement for third world
  regions

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Commercial Fisheries
• Goal increase or sustain commercially important
  species (other than salmon)
• Concept
• Being re-considered
• Offspring increased survival
• Species
• Flounder
• Cod
• Haddock
• Rockfish

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Recreational Fisheries
• Goal Stocking for angling public
• Put and take
• Stock catchable size fish that are available
  immediately
• Chase hatchery trucks
• Recreation for the non purists
• Provides some states alternative experience
• Seasons that provide proper environmental
  conditions
• Spring trout in some states (trout stamp)

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Recreational Fisheries
• Put-Grow-and take
• Stock at small size (fingerlings) allow to grow
  to large size
• Close harvest of small fish (size restrictions)
• Ex
• Stock fingerling Northern pike in Midwest
• Coho Salmon and SH in Great Lakes (1980s)
• Both approaches provide angling opportunities in
  waters that may not support sustainable
  populations

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Augmentation
• Used in waters that can support sustainable
  populations but where fishing pressure results in
  unbalanced populations
• Ex
• Largemouth bass
• Fishing lowers bass pop. even though forage base
  is good

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Mitigation/supplementation
• Human activities destruction or alteration of
  fish habitat
• Ex
• Loss of upstream access by anadromous fishes
• Decreased access to spawning habitat
• Change from riverine to reservoir habitat
• Increased turbidity (Ag and industry runoff)

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Mitigation/supplementation
• 1938 Congress passed legislation that mandated
  for losses of renewable aquatic resources due to
  reduction of upstream access for migratory
  salmonids
• Results
• In-kind mitigation
• Impacted species re-stocked
• May also occur if human activities take water
  body out of production filling lake for
  construction

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Pacific Salmon (Coho, Chinook, Chum, Pink,
  Sockeye)
• Primarily reared and released for mitigation
  purposes
• Pacific Northwest, Canada (BC), Alaska
• Great Lakes (1967) recreational fisheries

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Species Recovery (ESA)
• Habitat
• Hydro
• Hatcheries
• One action taken to enhance recovery
• Genetic diversity important
• Ex
• Sockeye Salmon 1990s to present (Redfish Lake)
• Lonely Larry
• Cryopreserved semen for next season
• Offspring survival important

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Population assessment
• Cultured fish can be marked and used to assess
  populations in wild
• Recapture of tagged/untagged fish used to
  estimate populations
• Examples of marking methods
• External tags
• Fin clips
• Branding

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Purpose of Aquaculture

• Research
• Many Scientists are increasingly using fish as
  laboratory animals
• Fish may be good models
• Fast regeneration times
• Ex
• Japanese medaka
• Zebrafish
• KIllifish,
• Goldfish