Aquaculture

What is aquaculture?  Well, according to the site http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/what_is_aquaculture.html , aquaculture is basically the harvesting, or in other words, farming and breeding, of different types of plants and animals that live in a wide range of marine environments.  Aquaculture can also be referred to as fish farming, in simpler terms.  This farming produces many different types of fish, from bait fish to food fish to fish that are in aquariums.  Plants and other items that aquaculture produces include sea vegetables, mollusks, and even some algae.  Also, aquaculture produces crustaceans like mussels, oysters and shrimps  Now, how exactly does this aquaculture work?  Why is it called farming?  Well, these fish and plants are formed in hatcheries and then grow larger in tanks or maybe even ponds.  Something I found interesting on this site while researching aquaculture was that the plants that are produced in aquaculture can be used in so many things.  A few that are listed include food products and pharmaceutical products.  I found that interesting because a lot of people might not know that those plants are used for very important things.  Producing many different species of fish and plants, there are obviously two different types of aquaculture.  These would be marine aquaculture, which is salt water, and the freshwater aquaculture.  So for example, fish like salmon are bred in a marine aquaculture environment, where as fish like trout and bass or bred in a freshwater aquaculture.  So, where does aquaculture happen, who does it?  Well, aquaculture is done all over the world.  The United States does produce aquaculture, however, it is not a big producer compared to the rest of the world.  According to the site http://thenaa.net/faqs/about-us-aquaculture , about 88% of the seafood that the United States  consumes is imported from other places.  According to the site http://fishery.about.com/od/CommonAquacultureSpecies/a/Aquaculture-Top-10-Aquaculture-Countries.htm , the largest industry in the United States is that of oysters, clams and mussels.  This accounts for 67% of the total United States aquaculture production.  So, which country has the largest aquaculture production? On the same site, the list the top 10, number 1 being China, 2 being Japan, 3 being India, 4 Chile, 5 Vietnam, 6 Indonesia, 7 Thailand, 8 Bangladesh, 9 Korea, and 10 is the Philippines.  It is estimated the only about 5% of the seafood supply in the United States comes from U.S. aquaculture production- everything else is imported.  According to the site http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/aquaculture/aquaculture_in_us.html , the United States trade deficit on seafood is about $11.2 billion each year.  This means that the value of the seafood that the United States imports is greater than the amount of seafood exported by that much.  That's a lot of money, you may not have known that much money was spent on something you probably never thought cost that much- seafood.  Obviously if the United States spends so much money on imports of seafood, these aquacultures in other countries are very important parts of their culture and way of life.  It helps their economies and creates jobs for people, and they also re-stock certain areas with species that are less populated, so it is also important not only for the economy, but for the environment as well. I hope this article helped provide some information about what aquaculture is and how it plays a major role in everyday life in the world's economy.