Overview
For thousands of years, people have harvested the bounties of the sea and planted its “crops” as well. As demand for fish increases, raised stocks will become more vital, both to the food supply and economy. The United Nations reports that one-third of the world's total food fish supply comes from aquaculture. It is a growing industry. In the United States, aquaculture is expected to continue to grow as a source of fish, shellfish, and mollusks. The potential for aquaculture production to expand and compete with wild-harvest seafood and other livestock products is readily apparent. Imported aquaculture products in U.S. markets continue to increase. Salmon imports in 2003, totaled 1.1-billion pounds, up 21 percent since 2001. For the period, imports of tilapia increased nearly 300 percent to 199-million pounds; shrimp imports, a mix of farmed production and wild harvest, increased 41 percent (Source: USDA Aquaculture Outlook March 12, 2004). Most of this growth in imported product has come from countries that have large aquaculture industries. If this follows a similar trend as in previous years, the shrimp imports alone, over 1-billion pounds, have a value of well over $3 billion by the beginning of 2004. U.S. domestic aquaculture production also is expected to increase. While U.S. producers are at a disadvantage in the production of warm-water (mariculture) species that require large expanses of coastal property, they do have some advantages for cool- or cold-water species, especially those that can be grown in fresh water on a mostly grain-based diet (Source: USDA Aquaculture Outlook October 09, 2003). Canada also is developing its aquaculture industry. In 2001, aquaculture brought in more than $665 million to Canada, with more than $274 million being generated in Atlantic Canada with $36.25 coming from Nova Scotia.
Aquaculture is a catch-all term that encompasses the production of reptiles (turtles, crocodiles, alligators, etc.), shellfish and crustaceans (oysters, scallops, shrimp, crayfish, etc.) and what are generally referred to as the commercially important finfish (trout, salmon, tilapia, bass, baitfish, sturgeon, etc.). A distinction can be made between “aquaculture” and “mariculture.” Aquaculture systems tend to be pond or confinement systems and mariculture systems tend to be pen-type enclosures within open bodies of water, usually within the sea.
An ongoing problem with the smaller-scale operations in American aquaculture is market development. Many new producers coming into the business from a commodity agriculture background find it difficult to transition to a more “think-outside-the-box” market-development environment. Typically, aquaculture start up involves development of local markets. One advantage of transitioning from a commodity agriculture operation to an aquaculture operation is that the later can run with a minimum of employees, compared to most livestock production systems. However, this tends to obscure the need for the operation to hire a marketing manager or development specialist, at least on a part-time basis. This is needed to get the product to distributors, retailers, restaurateurs, and eventually, the consumer. Additionally, many governmental and educational support personnel are focused on the production side of aquaculture, not the business and market-development aspects of running a sustainable operation.