What Is Aquaculture?
Aquaculture refers to the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of plants and animals in all types of water environments. Pictured above, staff at the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in San Diego attend to marine finfish being cultured in tanks. [Hubbs-SeaWorld photo]
The broad term “aquaculture” refers to the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of plants and animals in all types of water environments, including ponds, rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Similar to agriculture, aquaculture can take place in the natural environment or in a manmade environment. Using aquaculture techniques and technologies, researchers and the aquaculture industry are “growing,” “producing,” “culturing,” and “farming” all types of freshwater and marine species.
More specifically, marine aquaculture refers to the culturing of marine species, while freshwater aquaculture focuses on the culturing of freshwater species. For example, marine aquaculture production includes oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp, and salmon, while freshwater aquaculture operations produce trout, catfish, and tilapia.
As the nation’s oceans agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the leading Federal agency on marine aquaculture regulatory and policy matters. In this role, NOAA defines aquaculture as “the propagation and rearing of aquatic organisms in controlled or selected aquatic environments for any commercial, recreational, or public purpose.” NOAA’s definition of aquaculture was established in 1998 as part of the NOAA Aquaculture Policy.