aquaculture Label

DefGEMET: 1) The cultivation and harvest of freshwater or marine animals and plants, in ponds, tanks, cages or on protected beds. This is usually done in inland waters, estuaries or coastal waters. It is estimated that commercial fish farming accounts for more than 10% of the world's fish needs. Fish farming usually concentrates on molluscs, including oysters, mussels and clams, because they are usually immobile and fetch high prices. Shrimps and salmon are also farmed, but the stock have to be caught in the wild first, so that they can be brought up to commercial standards in pens. Aquaculture in not new. In Asia freshwater fish have been farmed for some 4.000 years, usually on small farms.