Aquaculture
By: Olivia Reul
What is aquaculture?
Aquaculture is the breeding and harvesting of plants and animals in any water environment. Modern aquaculture was first started by a German farmer who was able to gather fish eggs, fertilize them, and raise and harvest the fish in 1733.
How aquaculture works
There are two types of aquaculture called marine and freshwater aquaculture. Marine aquaculture is the farming of species that live in the ocean. This is often done in cages on the seafloor, water columns, and manmade ponds or tanks. The second type of aquaculture is freshwater. Freshwater aquaculture produces species native to rivers, lakes, and streams. It is done on land in man made ponds and tanks.
SPECIES OFTEN hARVESTED IN AQUACULTURE
Species that are often harvested from freshwater aquaculture are carp, salmon, trout, striped bass, and catfish. Species that are often harvested from marine aquaculture are shrimp, oysters, clams, and tilapia.
How aquaculture affects the environment
Aquaculture is a large topic of controversy. Many people believe it's harming the environment, while others believe its benefiting the environment and the economy. Aquaculture's benefits are it is able to keep up the demand for fish as our population grows while captured fish can no longer meet this demand. Another benefit is with aquaculture wild species aren't harvested allowing them to repopulate. The ways aquaculture harms the environment is it increases the chance of transmitting disease to the wild species. Another way it harms the environment is it can pollute the water systems with waste and excess nutrients.
Citations
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