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Fish farming

Fish farming, a principal component of aquaculture, entails the controlled breeding, rearing, and harvesting of finfish species—such as carp, tilapia, salmon, and catfish—in enclosed systems including ponds, raceways, tanks, or offshore net pens to yield biomass for human consumption, feed, and other uses.^[1] This practice implies human intervention to boost production beyond natural levels through stocking, feeding, and husbandry techniques.^[2] Originating in ancient China around 2500 BCE with early pond systems for common carp, fish farming expanded globally through Roman-era oyster and fish culture, medieval European carp husbandry, and 19th-century advancements in hatchery technology, culminating in explosive modern growth since the 1970s driven by population demands and technological innovations like recirculating systems.^[3] By 2022, global aquaculture output reached 87.5 million tonnes of aquatic animals, surpassing wild capture fisheries in volume for direct human food supply and comprising over half of the world's seafood consumption.^[4]^[5] Dominant producers include China, which accounts for the majority of freshwater species like carps and tilapias, alongside Norway and Chile for marine salmon farming.^[6] While fish farming has alleviated pressure on overexploited wild stocks and enhanced food security, it faces scrutiny for environmental externalities, including nutrient pollution from uneaten feed and waste leading to eutrophication, pathogen transmission to wild populations via escapes, and reliance on wild-caught fish for feed, though improvements in plant-based diets and closed systems mitigate some risks.^[7]^[8] Controversies persist over localized ecosystem degradation and antibiotic overuse, yet empirical assessments highlight that indirect impacts, such as altered wild fish behaviors, may outweigh direct disease transfers in certain contexts, underscoring the need for site-specific regulation over blanket prohibitions.^[9]^[10]

History

Ancient Origins and Early Practices

The earliest known evidence of systematic fish farming emerges from Neolithic China around 6200–5800 BCE, based on stable isotope analysis of carp otoliths from the Jiahu site in Henan province, indicating that Cyprinus carpio populations were deliberately managed in ponds rather than solely harvested from wild rivers, providing a buffer against fluctuating wild fish availability and agricultural inconsistencies.^[11]^[12] By the Zhou dynasty (circa 1046–256 BCE), textual records describe polyculture of common carp in integrated pond systems alongside rice and silk production, exploiting natural fertilization from agricultural runoff to sustain growth without supplemental feeds, as a response to population pressures and seasonal protein deficits.^[3] In ancient Egypt, aquaculture practices are documented from approximately 2500 BCE through tomb bas-reliefs and paintings depicting rectangular ponds stocked with Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), where fish were held for controlled fattening and harvest, leveraging the Nile's annual floods for pond filling and waste recycling in a system tightly coupled to basin irrigation agriculture to counter Nile-dependent harvest variability.^[13]^[14] A joint German-Israeli archaeozoological study of fish remains confirms these enclosures supported semi-domesticated stocks, with ponds serving as reservoirs during low-water periods to ensure elite and communal protein access amid reliance on unpredictable riverine captures.^[14] Roman piscinae, artificial coastal and lagoon ponds proliferating from the late Republic (circa 100 BCE) onward, featured sluice-gated enclosures for rearing high-value species like murena eels (Muraena helena) and sea bass, often adjacent to elite villas, motivated by luxury consumption and status signaling in an era of expanding trade but finite wild supplies from Mediterranean fisheries.^[15]^[16] These installations used tidal flows for oxygenation and waste flushing, yet remained extensive due to manual stocking from nets. In Polynesia, Hawaiian loko iʻa wall ponds emerged around 1200 CE, engineering basalt or coral barriers across estuaries to impound juvenile herbivorous fish like Acanthurus species, addressing island food scarcity by converting marginal coastal zones into productive enclosures dependent on tidal recruitment and natural algae.^[17]^[18] Across these early systems, technological constraints precluded artificial breeding or formulated feeds, compelling reliance on capturing wild fry or spawners for stocking, which tied yields to natural recruitment cycles and environmental factors like water quality and predation, inherently limiting densities and reliability compared to later innovations.^[19]^[3]

Industrialization and Modern Expansion

The establishment of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries in 1871 represented a pivotal step toward industrialized aquaculture, tasked with investigating declining coastal fish stocks and implementing artificial propagation to replenish them. Under Commissioner Spencer Fullerton Baird, the agency built the first federal hatcheries, such as those at Green Lake, Maine, and Baird Station, Virginia, focusing on incubating eggs and rearing juveniles of species like shad, salmon, and trout for release into natural waters. These efforts introduced scalable hatchery techniques, including controlled incubation and transport methods, which transitioned from restocking to foundational commercial breeding practices by the early 20th century.^[20]^[21] Technological breakthroughs in the mid-20th century enabled offshore scale-up, particularly in Norway, where floating sea cages were developed in the late 1960s for Atlantic salmon farming. Pioneers like the Grøndal brothers adapted plastic nets and feeding systems to rear smolts in fjords, achieving commercial viability by the 1970s and spurring a production surge from experimental tons to millions by the 1980s. This cage-based intensive model spread globally, supported by advancements in pelleted feeds and disease management, while the 1980s shrimp aquaculture boom in Asia—led by Taiwan and Thailand—intensified pond systems with aerators and high-density stocking, driven by export demand and yielding rapid output growth from negligible levels to over 500,000 tonnes annually by decade's end.^[22]^[23]^[24] Declining wild capture fisheries, plateaued at around 90 million tonnes since the 1990s amid widespread overexploitation, causally accelerated aquaculture's expansion as a supply alternative, with farmed production filling gaps in protein demand without relying on depleting ocean stocks. By 2022, aquaculture output of aquatic animals reached 94.4 million tonnes, overtaking capture fisheries (79.7 million tonnes) for the first time, contributing to a combined global total of 223.2 million tonnes including algae. Post-2000 innovations like recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) for land-based containment and genetic selection for faster growth and disease resistance further industrialized operations, reducing environmental footprints and enabling year-round production in regions like Europe and North America.^[25]^[4]^[26]

Core Principles and Methods

Fundamental Concepts of Aquaculture

Aquaculture constitutes the farming of aquatic organisms, encompassing fish, molluscs, crustaceans, and aquatic plants, through processes of breeding, rearing, and harvesting in managed water environments such as ponds, tanks, or open waters.^[1]^[27] This approach enables direct intervention in organism lifecycles, including control over stocking densities, reproduction, and harvesting timing, in contrast to capture fisheries that depend on exploiting naturally occurring populations without such regulatory mechanisms.^[28] At its core, aquaculture relies on manipulating physical and chemical water parameters to sustain organism health and maximize biomass accumulation. Essential factors include maintaining dissolved oxygen concentrations above 5 mg/L to support metabolic demands and avert physiological stress, alongside regulating temperature, salinity, pH, and nutrient levels to align with species tolerances.^[29]^[30] These interventions facilitate elevated stocking densities—often orders of magnitude higher than in natural habitats—while mitigating limitations like oxygen depletion from respiration and organic decomposition.^[31] Biomass yield optimization hinges on efficient resource conversion, quantified by the feed conversion ratio (FCR), which measures feed mass input per unit of harvestable biomass output and typically ranges from 1.0 to 2.0 for many finfish under controlled feeding regimes.^[32]^[33] Optimized conditions, including consistent nutrition and environmental stability, accelerate growth rates relative to wild counterparts by enabling uninterrupted feeding and reduced energy expenditure on foraging or predator avoidance, thereby compressing production cycles.^[34]

Classification of Systems: Extensive, Semi-Intensive, and Intensive

Aquaculture systems are classified by the intensity of management inputs, including stocking density, artificial feeding, fertilization, and aeration, which causally determine resource utilization efficiency and output yields per hectare. Low-input systems leverage ambient nutrient cycles and plankton blooms for food supply, yielding modest harvests with minimal external energy or capital. Higher-intensity approaches amplify productivity through engineered nutrient delivery and environmental controls, but escalate operational demands and vulnerability to perturbations like oxygen depletion or pathogen proliferation. This spectrum enables adaptation to local ecologies and economic constraints, from rural subsistence to commercial scalability.^[35]^[36] Extensive systems minimize human intervention, relying on natural primary productivity in enclosed water bodies such as ponds or lagoons, with stocking densities often below 1 organism per square meter. Fertilization or manuring may occur sporadically, but feeding is absent, constraining yields to under 1 tonne per hectare per year due to limited biomass accumulation from ambient algae and detritus. These operations predominate in resource-poor regions of Asia and Africa, where they support small-scale livelihoods with production costs below $1,000 per tonne, though outputs rarely exceed natural carrying capacities without enhancements.^[37]^[36] Semi-intensive systems bridge natural and controlled production by applying supplemental fertilizers to boost plankton growth alongside occasional formulated feeds, elevating stocking densities to 1-5 organisms per square meter. This yields 1-5 tonnes per hectare annually, as augmented food webs sustain intermediate biomass without full reliance on external rations. Prevalent in integrated farming in developing economies, these methods balance moderate capital needs—around $2,000-5,000 per tonne—with resilience to fluctuating inputs, though incomplete nutrient management can lead to eutrophication risks from excess organic loading.^[38]^[35] Intensive systems employ high stocking densities exceeding 10-50 organisms per square meter, complete pelleted feeds providing 90-100% of nutrition, and mechanical aeration to counteract oxygen deficits from rapid metabolism. Yields surpass 10 tonnes per hectare per year, driven by precise feed conversion ratios (often 1.2-1.5 kg feed per kg biomass) that maximize growth under controlled conditions. These dominate commercial volumes for fed species, comprising over half of global aquaculture output in high-value sectors, but demand vigilant monitoring to avert cascading failures from disease amplification or waste accumulation, with mismanagement inflating costs to $4,000+ per tonne.^[38]^[39]^[40] Across intensities, trade-offs manifest in efficiency versus stability: extensive approaches yield low but ecologically buffered outputs suited to marginal lands, while intensive variants achieve 10-20-fold productivity gains through input-output optimization, accounting for the bulk of the sector's growth from 32 million tonnes in 2000 to over 87 million tonnes of aquatic animals by 2020. However, intensive reliance on finite feed proteins and energy inputs heightens vulnerability to supply shocks, underscoring the need for hybrid models to sustain expansion amid resource limits.^[5]^[40]

Cultured Species

Dominant Finfish Species

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) represents the leading marine finfish in aquaculture by value, with global production reaching approximately 2.6 million tonnes in 2022, primarily from Norway and Chile. Norway harvested 1.48 million tonnes in 2023, while Chile produced over 1 million tonnes of salmon in the same year, with Atlantic salmon comprising about 73 percent of Chilean output. These species are favored for their high market price, driven by demand for premium protein, and selective breeding programs that enhance growth rates to 4-5 kg in 18-24 months and improve disease resistance, prioritizing farmed traits over wild migration behaviors. Typical biomass densities in sea cages reach 20-25 kg/m³, supporting efficient yields in open-water systems.^[5]^[41]^[42] Tilapia species, particularly Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), dominate tropical and subtropical freshwater and brackish production, with global output estimated at around 6 million tonnes annually as of recent years, concentrated in Asia and Africa. In Africa, production exceeded 2.2 million tonnes in 2022, led by Egypt at over 67 percent of continental aquaculture, followed by Nigeria and Ghana; Asia, including China and Indonesia, accounts for the majority of global volume due to the species' omnivorous diet, tolerance to low dissolved oxygen levels below 3 mg/L, and salinity up to 15 ppt, enabling cultivation in varied, often marginal water conditions. Fast growth to market size (300-500 g) in 6-8 months and hybrid strains with enhanced fillet yield and resistance to streptococcosis underpin their selection over less adaptable natives.^[4]^[43]^[44] Carp species—silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), and bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis)—lead overall finfish volume, comprising over 12 million tonnes globally in recent years, with China producing more than 17 million tonnes projected for 2024 and historically over 60 percent of its freshwater aquaculture output. These filter- and herbivore-feeding species suit extensive pond polyculture, achieving densities up to 10-15 kg/m³ with minimal supplemental feed, owing to plankton-based nutrition and rapid growth to 1-2 kg in 1-2 years; breeding focuses on sterility induction to prevent escapes and feral populations, alongside resistance to hypoxia and parasites.^[45]^[46]^[47] Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) is the primary U.S. farmed finfish, with production valued at approximately $405 million in 2023 from 322 million pounds processed, concentrated in pond systems across the Mississippi Delta region. Selected for bottom-feeding efficiency, tolerance to high densities (10-20 kg/m³), and growth to 1-1.5 kg in 18 months, hybrids improve feed conversion and resistance to enteric septicemia, supporting economic viability amid competition from imports.^[48]^[49]

Shellfish, Crustaceans, and Other Aquatic Organisms

Crustacean aquaculture is dominated by penaeid shrimp, particularly Litopenaeus vannamei, which comprises over 70% of global farmed shrimp production due to its fast growth, disease resistance, and adaptability to intensive pond systems.^[50] In 2024, global shrimp aquaculture output reached approximately 5.88 million metric tons, primarily from countries like Ecuador, India, and Vietnam.^[51] This production accounts for over half of total shrimp supply, reducing reliance on wild capture fisheries that involve destructive trawling with bycatch rates often exceeding 60% of the catch.^[52] Shrimp farming contributes disproportionately to aquaculture's economic value, representing about one-fifth of the worth of internationally traded seafood products despite lower volume shares, driven by premium pricing of USD 10-15 per kilogram.^[53] Bivalve shellfish, including oysters (Crassostrea spp.) and mussels (Mytilus spp.), are cultured mainly through suspension systems such as longlines, rafts, and ropes that position seed stock in the water column for natural plankton filtration, eliminating the need for formulated feeds after spat settlement.^[54] ^[55] Global molluscan aquaculture production, largely bivalves, totaled around 17.7 million tonnes in 2020, with values exceeding USD 29.8 billion, reflecting steady growth in Asia and Europe.^[5] These low-input methods enhance efficiency, as bivalves filter up to 50 liters of water per individual daily, potentially mitigating eutrophication while supplying protein with minimal ecological footprint compared to fed aquaculture.^[56] Other cultured aquatic organisms include sea cucumbers (Holothuroidea spp.), farmed in seabed pens or ponds primarily in China and Southeast Asia for their medicinal and culinary value, with production nearing 0.2 million tonnes annually; and macroalgae like kelp, integrated into polyculture for feed supplements or direct harvest, yielding over 35 million tonnes globally but often outside strict animal aquaculture metrics.^[5] These niche sectors diversify production, with echinoderms and gastropods like abalone (Haliotis spp.) addressing localized demand while easing harvest pressures on overexploited wild populations through restocking and containment.^[57]

Aquaculture Facilities and Infrastructure

Open-Water Systems

Open-water systems in aquaculture, often termed net-pen or sea-cage systems, consist of enclosed net structures deployed in marine or freshwater environments such as coastal fjords, lakes, or rivers, where natural water currents facilitate oxygenation, nutrient exchange, and waste dilution.^[58] These systems prioritize harnessing ambient flows for operational efficiency while employing containment measures to retain cultured species; typical designs feature floating or semi-submersible frames with mesh nets tethered to the seabed, allowing tidal or current-driven water throughput but minimizing escape risks through reinforced materials.^[59] Copper-alloy nets have gained adoption for their antimicrobial properties, which empirically reduce biofouling accumulation by inhibiting algal and bacterial growth, thereby preserving net volume, enhancing water circulation, and lowering maintenance frequency compared to traditional nylon meshes.^[60]^[61] In marine applications, such as Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) farming in Norwegian fjords, sea cages typically comprise 6–12 units per site, enabling high-volume production with annual outputs reaching up to 12,000 metric tons per facility through sustained biomass levels often exceeding 5,000 tonnes.^[62] This scale leverages low infrastructure costs, as minimal artificial circulation or filtration is required, contrasting with enclosed systems and allowing economic viability in regions with strong tidal regimes. Freshwater variants, including riverine pens, similarly exploit natural currents but face heightened containment challenges from variable flows and predation.^[63] Causal dynamics in these systems hinge on hydrodynamic factors: waste particulates like uneaten feed and feces disperse via near-bottom currents, with empirical modeling indicating deposition predominantly within 100–500 meters of cages in fjord-like settings, though distances extend farther in open coastal zones depending on velocity and bathymetry.^[64]^[65] Escapes remain a persistent risk, exacerbated by storm events or structural failures, underscoring the trade-off between open-flow benefits and containment imperatives; site selection thus emphasizes sheltered yet dispersive locales to mitigate localized benthic enrichment while curbing broader ecological dispersal.^[66]

Land-Based and Closed Systems

Land-based aquaculture systems employ constructed ponds, raceways, tanks, or irrigation ditches on terrestrial sites, decoupling production from natural water bodies and enabling precise management of water flow, temperature, and quality. These setups are prevalent for species like tilapia and common carp, which thrive in warm-water environments and can utilize organic inputs efficiently. In the United States, tilapia production occurs predominantly in such land-based facilities, contributing to the national total of 3,453 aquaculture farms with sales reported in 2023, an 18% increase from 2018.^[67] Carp farming similarly leverages repurposed ditches or shallow ponds for cost-effective rearing, often in regions with limited coastal access. Closed containment systems, particularly recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), represent an advanced subset of land-based operations, where water is filtered, oxygenated, and reused through biofilters and mechanical treatments, achieving recycling rates of 90-99% and near-zero effluent discharge. This design supports high-density stocking and year-round production in controlled indoor environments, mitigating seasonal constraints and disease transmission risks associated with open systems. RAS facilities have expanded for Atlantic salmon farming near urban centers, such as large-scale operations in China producing Norwegian salmon to reduce transport emissions and supply fresh product to metropolitan markets.^[68] Despite requiring substantial energy for pumps, aeration, and heating—potentially 15-20% higher than pond systems without optimization—RAS demonstrate superior biosecurity and land efficiency, yielding over 100 kg of fish per square meter annually in optimized setups.^[69]^[70] Hybrid approaches within land-based frameworks incorporate composite or polyculture techniques, stocking complementary species to optimize nutrient cycling and resource utilization. For instance, combining surface-feeding carps like silver carp with bottom-feeders such as mrigal carp in shared ponds promotes synergism, where waste from one species serves as feed for another, enhancing overall productivity without supplemental inputs. These methods, rooted in traditional practices but adaptable to controlled land-based tanks, have proven effective in intensive setups, increasing yields by leveraging ecological interactions while maintaining system stability.^[71]^[72]

Integrated and Offshore Innovations

Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems cultivate species from different trophic levels within the same facility, such as finfish alongside shellfish and seaweed, to promote nutrient recycling and ecosystem-like balances that mitigate waste accumulation inherent in monoculture operations.^[73] In these setups, extractive species like mussels and kelp assimilate dissolved inorganic nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, from finfish excreta and uneaten feed, thereby reducing effluent loads that contribute to coastal eutrophication.^[74] Empirical assessments of IMTA configurations, including those pairing Atlantic salmon with blue mussels and sugar kelp, demonstrate enhanced nutrient retention efficiencies, with extractive components capturing up to 20-40% of released nitrogen and phosphorus depending on biomass ratios and site hydrology.^[75] Offshore aquaculture innovations relocate production to deeper, open-ocean sites using larger, more robust net pens, which disperse wastes over greater volumes and distances, alleviating localized benthic deposition and hypoxia risks prevalent in nearshore farms.^[76] Post-2020 pilot projects, such as those deploying semi-submersible cages in exposed Norwegian waters, have shown improved hydrodynamic flushing that limits nutrient hotspots, with modeling indicating 50-70% reductions in seabed sediment accumulation compared to coastal baselines.^[77] These developments address capacity constraints in saturated coastal zones by harnessing stronger currents for natural dilution, though challenges like structural integrity against waves persist, as evidenced by iterative designs tested since 2021.^[78] Emerging floating closed containment systems (FCCS), deployed offshore, enclose fish in rigid or flexible barriers to fully retain solids and pathogens, further minimizing environmental releases while enabling high-density salmon production in dynamic sea conditions.^[79] In Norway, full-scale FCCS trials during the 2020s, including the Marine Donut prototype stocked with 195,000 smolts in 2024, reported salmon mortalities below 5%, outperforming open-net averages and containing over 99% of waste within the structure for potential recapture.^[80] Government-backed growth schemes launched in 2025 support scaling these technologies, integrating real-time monitoring to optimize oxygen and feed distribution, thus scaling production without proportional increases in coastal ecological footprints.^[81]

Operational Processes

Breeding, Hatchery, and Stocking Practices

Artificial propagation techniques enable controlled reproduction in aquaculture, primarily through hormone induction to trigger ovulation and spermiation in broodstock. Common methods include hypophysation, where pituitary gland extracts or synthetic gonadotropins like human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) are administered to females and males, facilitating egg stripping and fertilization outside natural breeding cycles.^[82] ^[83] These approaches, grounded in manipulating endocrine signals, allow year-round seed production but require precise dosing to avoid physiological stress, with success dependent on species-specific responses and water quality parameters.^[84] Selective breeding programs, conducted without genetic modification, focus on heritability of traits such as growth rate and disease resistance through family-based selection. In Atlantic salmon, these efforts have yielded annual genetic gains of approximately 10-15% in growth performance since the 1990s, shortening time to market size and reducing feed conversion ratios via polygenic improvements.^[85] ^[86] Such programs leverage quantitative genetics principles, selecting superior sires and dams from performance-tested offspring, thereby enhancing overall farm productivity while preserving genetic diversity through effective population size management.^[87] Hatchery operations incubate fertilized eggs in controlled trays or jars, hatching into yolk-sac larvae or fry that transition to exogenous feeding. Rearing progresses fry to juveniles in tanks with optimized flows and oxygenation, achieving survival rates above 90% in benchmark systems for species like trout under monitored conditions.^[88] These facilities minimize wild capture dependency, supplying over 90% of seedstock for intensive aquaculture in many regions, as empirical data from controlled environments demonstrate high propagation efficiency when densities and nutrition align with physiological tolerances.^[89] Stocking practices transfer juveniles to grow-out systems at densities calibrated to species tolerance, typically 10-100 kg/m³ biomass equivalents during initial phases to prevent stress-induced immunosuppression or growth stagnation. For instance, Nile tilapia juveniles thrive at around 200-300 individuals per m³ in biofloc systems, corresponding to low initial biomass that scales with size.^[90] Density optimization follows first-principles of oxygen demand and waste assimilation, with empirical trials showing reduced cannibalism and improved uniformity when stocking avoids overcrowding thresholds.^[91] This phase ensures viable integration into production cycles, directly linking hatchery outputs to sustainable scaling without overreliance on unpredictable wild recruitment.^[92]

Nutrition, Feeding, and Growth Management

In aquaculture, feed efficiency is quantified by the feed conversion ratio (FCR), defined as the mass of feed input per unit of animal biomass gain. For salmonid farming, commercial data reveal a 53.4% improvement in FCR from 1980 onward, driven by refined formulations and operational practices that lowered the ratio from historical levels around 2:1 to current values below 1.2:1.^[93] This progress reflects causal factors such as enhanced digestibility of feeds and reduced energy losses in digestion. The incorporation of plant-based alternatives like soy protein has substantially decreased reliance on fishmeal from wild fisheries, with the overall fish-in fish-out (FIFO) ratio—measuring wild fish equivalents used in feed relative to farmed output—declining from peaks of 5:1 in the 1990s to under 1.5:1 today across fed aquaculture sectors.^[94] ^[95] These shifts stem from first-principles optimization of nutrient profiles, where plant ingredients supply essential amino acids at lower ecological cost in terms of marine inputs, though full replacement requires supplementation to match carnivorous species' requirements.^[96] Precision feeding technologies, including automatic dispensers and sensor-integrated systems, deliver rations based on real-time biomass estimates and appetite indicators, minimizing excess provision.^[97] ^[98] Overfeeding empirically leads to uneaten pellets sinking and decomposing, inflating FCR by 10-20%; optimized sensor-guided protocols counteract this by adjusting daily allocations to match metabolic demands, achieving waste reductions of 20-30% in controlled trials.^[99] Growth management employs acoustic and optical sensors to track size uniformity and feeding response, enabling data-driven adjustments that accelerate development under stable conditions. Empirical records show farmed carnivorous fish attaining harvest weights in 12-24 months, versus 3-5 years for wild conspecifics reliant on variable natural forage.^[100] This disparity arises from consistent high-protein rations sustaining elevated specific growth rates (2-3% body weight daily) unattainable in wild habitats subject to prey scarcity and predation risks.^[101]

Health, Disease Control, and Biosecurity

Biosecurity protocols form the cornerstone of disease prevention in aquaculture, focusing on excluding pathogens through measures such as restricted site access, equipment disinfection, quarantine of new stock, and zoning to minimize transfers between facilities. These strategies, outlined in frameworks like the FAO's Progressive Management Pathway, reduce pathogen entry risks by addressing vectors including water, feed, and personnel.^[102]^[103] Empirical assessments show that farms implementing such protocols experience lower disease burdens, with global losses to infectious diseases estimated at 10% of production potentially mitigated through consistent application.^[104] Vaccination targets specific pathogens, particularly bacterial ones prevalent in finfish culture; for example, inactivated vaccines against Vibrio spp. and Aeromonas salmonicida prevent vibriosis and furunculosis in salmonids, activating immune responses without antibiotics.^[105]^[106] In parasite management, sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) on Atlantic salmon are controlled via integrated methods including deployment of cleaner fish like lumpfish or wrasse, which remove lice biologically, alongside mechanical delousing and judicious in-feed treatments; experimental vaccines have demonstrated up to 90% reduction in lice counts in challenge trials.^[107]^[108] High densities in net pens amplify transmission via proximity, mirroring contact rates in wild fish schools during migration or spawning, but monitoring mitigates amplification through early intervention.^[109] Antimicrobial use is curtailed in regulated systems prioritizing prevention, with Norway's salmon sector exemplifying this: in 2020, 1.3 million metric tons of production required only 222 kg of antibiotics, or approximately 0.17 mg per kg of fish produced, and over 99% of salmon received no treatment.^[110]^[111] Routine surveillance, including water quality checks, histopathology, and molecular diagnostics like PCR for viral hemorrhagic septicemia or infectious salmon anemia, enables detection before clinical outbreaks, supporting containment without broad therapeutics.^[105]

Harvesting, Processing, and Slaughter Methods

Harvesting in pond-based aquaculture typically involves partial or complete draining of the pond through outlets, followed by seining with nets of 3-3.5 cm mesh to capture fish, often concentrated in catch basins for efficiency.^[112]^[113] In cage systems, fish are crowded using mechanical barriers or pumps to facilitate removal via lift nets or suction devices, minimizing escape and injury.^[114] Mechanized approaches, including hydraulic lifts and electrical herding, are employed in larger operations to handle volumes exceeding thousands of kilograms per harvest.^[114] Slaughter methods prioritize rapid induction of insensibility to limit stress responses, with percussive stunning—delivered by automated machines applying a targeted blow to the head above the brain—achieving immediate brain disruption in species like salmon and tilapia.^[115]^[116] Electrical stunning, involving immersion in electrified water or direct current application, renders fish insensible within 1 second for many finfish, followed by killing via exsanguination or spiking.^[117]^[118] These mechanical methods yield lower blood indicators of stress, such as cortisol and lactic acid, compared to alternatives like CO2 narcosis or ice-slurry immersion, which can elevate glucose and pH decline rates indicative of prolonged agitation.^[119]^[120] In optimized systems, percussive and electrical techniques show stress markers in under 5% of cases exceeding baseline thresholds, outperforming variable capture stresses in wild fisheries where net entanglement or exhaustion often prolongs physiological distress.^[121]^[122] Post-slaughter processing begins with rapid chilling in ice slurries at 0-4°C to halt microbial growth and enzymatic degradation, preserving flesh quality and extending shelf life for species like Atlantic salmon to 10-14 days under refrigerated conditions.^[123]^[124] Gutting removes viscera within hours to prevent autolysis, followed by filleting, skinning, and portioning in automated lines; freezing via individual quick freezing (IQF) at -30°C or below maintains quality for 4-8 months in lean fish fillets.^[125]^[126] Proper handling, including hygiene and temperature control per FAO guidelines, reduces spoilage rates, with microbial limits aligned to time-temperature models where shelf life halves per 10°C rise above 0°C.^[127]^[128]

Economic and Societal Contributions

Role in Global Food Security and Protein Supply

Aquaculture has become the primary source of aquatic animals for human consumption, accounting for 51 percent of the 185 million tonnes produced globally in 2022, or 94 million tonnes, surpassing capture fisheries for the first time.^[129] This milestone underscores its role in bolstering global protein supply, as fisheries and aquaculture together contribute around 20 percent of the average per capita intake of animal protein for 3.2 billion people worldwide.^[4] With global apparent fish consumption reaching approximately 20.4 kg per capita in 2022, aquaculture's expansion helps meet rising demand without relying on wild stocks, 35.5 percent of which are overfished and an additional portion fully exploited, limiting further gains from capture methods.^[130] The sector's production has grown at an average annual rate exceeding 5 percent over recent decades, contrasting with the stagnation in capture fisheries output, which has hovered around 90-95 million tonnes since the 1990s due to overexploitation and environmental pressures.^[131] This differential growth provides a buffer against variability in wild catches influenced by climate oscillations and stock depletion, ensuring more predictable availability of seafood as a nutrient-dense protein source. In regions like Asia, where aquaculture dominates production, it supports food security by offering affordable aquatic proteins amid population growth and limited arable land.^[132] In Africa and other developing areas, aquaculture's potential remains underutilized but critical for addressing protein deficits, with initiatives aimed at scaling operations to enhance local supplies and reduce import dependence. By alleviating pressure on depleted marine resources—where nearly 90 percent of stocks face maximal exploitation—aquaculture fosters sustainable augmentation of global seafood provision, pivotal for dietary diversity and resilience in vulnerable populations.^[133]^[134]

Employment, Trade, and Industry Economics

Aquaculture generates substantial employment worldwide, with the sector supporting an estimated 20 million direct jobs, predominantly in Asia where small-scale operations dominate labor needs in countries like China, India, and Vietnam. Including indirect employment in processing and supply chains, the contribution extends further, aiding rural economies through value-added activities. In 2022, the combined primary sector of fisheries and aquaculture employed 61.8 million people globally, with aquaculture's share expanding due to its labor-intensive nature in developing regions.^[4]^[135] In the United States, aquaculture production reached a value of $1.7 billion in 2022, encompassing 663 million pounds of output from freshwater and marine operations, primarily shellfish and finfish. Major exporting nations underscore the sector's trade significance: Norway's aquaculture exports, dominated by Atlantic salmon, totaled NOK 128.7 billion (approximately $12 billion USD) in 2023, representing 75% of its overall seafood export value. Similarly, Chile's salmon and trout exports generated $6.1 billion in 2023, positioning aquaculture as a key driver of national trade balances and foreign exchange earnings.^[136]^[137]^[138] Intensive aquaculture systems, particularly for high-value species like salmon, demonstrate strong economic viability through scalable production and market premiums, often achieving returns on investment exceeding those of extensive methods via optimized feed and biosecurity inputs. In developing economies, which produce over 90% of global farmed fish volume, technology transfers—such as improved hatchery techniques and feed formulations—have causally boosted output and incomes by enabling transitions from subsistence to commercial scales, as seen in Southeast Asia's shrimp and tilapia sectors.^[139]^[140] Empirically, aquaculture frequently delivers protein at lower costs per kilogram than many terrestrial livestock options in tropical and subtropical regions, where species like carp and tilapia exhibit feed conversion ratios of 1.5-2.0:1 compared to 6-10:1 for beef, translating to competitive pricing for staple protein sources amid rising agricultural input costs. This efficiency supports trade competitiveness and household affordability, with global aquaculture output valued at $313 billion in 2022.^[141]^[26]

Nutritional Advantages and Human Health Impacts

Farmed fish exhibit nutritional profiles comparable to wild-caught counterparts in key macronutrients and essential fatty acids, with protein content typically ranging from 15-25% of wet weight across species like salmon and seabass, and omega-3 levels such as EPA and DHA averaging 500-600 mg per 100g in both farmed and wild Atlantic salmon.^[142] ^[143] Farmed varieties often contain equivalent or higher total omega-3s due to elevated fat content from controlled feeding, providing similar cardiovascular benefits without the variability inherent in wild fish diets influenced by seasonal prey availability.^[144] ^[145] Contrary to persistent claims of elevated contaminants in farmed fish, empirical data from regulated European operations demonstrate that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins are frequently lower in farmed salmon than in wild counterparts, with Norwegian studies reporting toxic compounds more prevalent in wild fish due to uncontrolled environmental exposure versus feed screening in aquaculture.^[146] ^[147] Levels in compliant farmed fish remain below EU safety thresholds, posing negligible risks to human health from typical consumption patterns, as quantitative risk-benefit analyses confirm that associated nutrient gains outweigh potential exposures.^[148] ^[149] Aquaculture feeds enable fortification with bioavailable minerals, enhancing levels of iodine, selenium, and iron in fillets—such as through iodine-rich macroalgae supplementation increasing muscle iodine by up to 50% in seabream—directly addressing global deficiencies that affect over 2 billion people, with consistent year-round supply mitigating the intermittency of wild fisheries subject to seasonal and overexploitation fluctuations.^[150] ^[151] This reliability supports sustained intake of these nutrients, causal to improved thyroid function and anemia prevention, without the supply disruptions that limit wild fish accessibility.^[152]^[153]

Environmental Dimensions

Benefits: Reducing Pressure on Wild Fisheries

Aquaculture's expansion has substituted for wild capture in meeting global seafood demand, thereby alleviating harvest pressure on depleted stocks. In 2022, global aquaculture production of aquatic animals reached 94.4 million tonnes, surpassing capture fisheries output of 91 million tonnes for the first time and comprising 51 percent of total aquatic animal production.^[4] This shift correlates with the stabilization of wild capture volumes, which have hovered around 90-100 million tonnes since the 1990s peak, despite rising consumption, as aquaculture absorbed incremental demand growth exceeding 50 million tonnes cumulatively.^[154] Empirical models indicate that such substitution supports wild stock conservation by curtailing overexploitation, with aquaculture growth exerting a net positive effect on biomass levels even accounting for feed-related predator-prey dynamics.^[155] In specific cases like salmonids, aquaculture dominance—producing over 90 percent of market supply—has enabled quota reductions and recovery programs for wild populations by diminishing economic incentives for excessive wild harvesting. For instance, Atlantic salmon wild catches have declined as farmed output scaled to 2.5 million tonnes annually, allowing targeted management to rebuild spawning stocks in regions like Norway and Scotland.^[156] This causal mechanism operates through market displacement: farmed alternatives lower prices and supply risks, prompting regulatory harvest limits that foster stock rebound, as evidenced by increased wild salmon returns in areas with stringent farming-supported conservation.^[156] From a production standpoint, aquaculture's controlled environments inherently bypass the incidental ecosystem disruptions of capture methods, such as trawling-induced bycatch and habitat destruction, which annually discard millions of tonnes of non-target species and exacerbate stock declines. By channeling protein output through enclosed systems, aquaculture offsets equivalent wild harvest volumes—estimated at over 50 million tonnes in recent decades—without propagating these collateral damages, thereby preserving marine biodiversity and fishery resilience.^[157] This substitution effect is particularly pronounced for high-value species, where farmed volumes directly supplant wild equivalents, stabilizing global catches and enabling natural replenishment cycles.^[158]

Empirical Assessments of Impacts: Waste, Emissions, and Biodiversity

Fish farming generates organic waste primarily from uneaten feed, feces, and exudates, leading to localized nutrient enrichment in surrounding waters. Studies indicate that significant benthic impacts from nutrient loading are confined to areas within approximately 130 meters of net-pen sites, with effects diminishing rapidly beyond this distance due to dispersion and dilution in marine environments.^[159] For instance, empirical monitoring in coastal aquaculture zones shows elevated nitrogen and phosphorus levels primarily affecting sediments directly beneath cages, with water column enrichment limited to proximal zones.^[160] Greenhouse gas emissions from aquaculture, calculated on a life-cycle basis including feed production and farm operations, average around 2.5 to 3 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per tonne of harvested salmon, with variations by region and feed sourcing. This footprint is substantially lower than beef production (typically 20-60 tonnes CO₂e per tonne) but comparable to or slightly below chicken (around 4-6 tonnes CO₂e per tonne), reflecting aquaculture's reliance on plant-based feeds offset by energy-intensive operations.^[161]^[162] Per unit of edible protein, aquaculture waste and emissions intensity is lower than terrestrial livestock like beef, where higher feed conversion ratios amplify resource demands, though intensive salmon farming exceeds capture fisheries in direct emissions.^[163] Biodiversity impacts include alterations to benthic communities from organic deposition, but empirical data demonstrate recovery potential following site fallowing. Subtidal sediments beneath fallowed salmon farms show partial to full benthic invertebrate recolonization within 6-12 months, with oxygen levels and species diversity rebounding as waste decomposition ceases.^[164]^[165] Fish escapes from modern net pens, enhanced by stronger materials and monitoring, occur at rates below 0.1% of stocked populations annually in well-managed operations, minimizing genetic introgression risks to wild stocks compared to historical incidents.^[166] In contrast, wild capture fisheries often impose broader habitat destruction through bottom trawling, which disrupts seafloor ecosystems across vast areas—exceeding aquaculture's localized benthic footprints in scale and persistence, per comparative environmental assessments.^[8]^[25]

Mitigation Techniques and Data-Driven Improvements

Fallowing periods and rotational site use in finfish aquaculture, particularly salmon farming, allow sediments beneath cages to recover from organic enrichment, reducing anoxia by enabling reoxygenation and microbial degradation of accumulated waste. Empirical studies demonstrate partial restoration of benthic community similarity to reference sites, with increases from 11-25% to 27-31% following short-term fallowing, thereby mitigating persistent sulfide accumulation and redox imbalances.^[167]^[168] Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) systems co-culture fed species like fish with extractive organisms such as seaweed and shellfish, which assimilate dissolved nutrients from uneaten feed and excreta, retaining a substantial fraction—often exceeding 30% in modeled efficiencies—to prevent eutrophication and improve water quality. Quantitative assessments across IMTA configurations confirm these retention rates, with bio-mitigation reducing nitrogen and phosphorus loads through complementary trophic levels, as evidenced in pilot operations recycling wastes into biomass.^[75]^[169] Transitioning operations to offshore locations disperses effluents via stronger currents and deeper waters, substantially lowering benthic impacts compared to coastal sites by diluting organic matter and minimizing sediment loading within 150 meters of cages. Field data from offshore farms indicate reduced localized anoxia and geochemical alterations, with organic dispersion promoted by oceanographic conditions that limit persistent effects on cohesive sediments.^[170]^[171] Vaccination protocols have achieved antibiotic use reductions of 70-99% in targeted species, curbing environmental release of residues that contribute to resistance in aquatic ecosystems; for instance, in U.S. catfish farming, medicated feed orders dropped 69-78% post-vaccine adoption from 2018-2024, while Norwegian salmon sectors maintain usage at 0.002 kg per kg produced through widespread immunization.^[172]^[173]^[174] Data-driven tools, including AI-enabled sensors for real-time monitoring of water quality parameters like dissolved oxygen and turbidity, optimize feeding and stocking densities to minimize waste outputs, with 2024-2025 implementations forecasting hypoxia events and enabling predictive adjustments toward near-zero net environmental footprints in monitored farms. These systems integrate machine learning for environmental analytics, reducing overfeeding-induced nutrient excess by up to 20-30% in predictive models.^[175]^[176]^[177]

Controversies and Empirical Critiques

Animal Welfare and Ethical Debates

In aquaculture, animal welfare concerns primarily revolve around stocking density, which can elevate stress hormones such as cortisol in fish, potentially leading to suppressed growth, impaired immunity, and increased aggression.^[178] However, peer-reviewed studies indicate that domesticated farmed fish often exhibit lower baseline cortisol levels compared to wild counterparts under chronic stress, as selective breeding and management practices mitigate long-term physiological burdens.^[179] For instance, in Atlantic salmon farming, optimized water velocities up to 1.5 body lengths per second have been shown to reduce cortisol spikes, aggression, and dominance hierarchies while enhancing growth rates.^[180] Empirical mortality data further contextualize these debates: farmed fish typically experience annual mortality rates below 15-20% in well-managed systems, contrasting sharply with wild juvenile fish, where natural losses from predation, starvation, and environmental stressors often exceed 80-95% before maturity.^[181] This disparity underscores a causal advantage in controlled aquaculture environments, where risks like predation are eliminated, enabling faster growth cycles—often 1-2 years to harvest versus 3-5 years in the wild—and reducing overall lifetime exposure to stressors.^[182] Debates on fish sentience complicate ethical assessments, with evidence suggesting capacities for pain perception and stress responses in species like salmon and trout, though skeptics argue that behavioral indicators do not conclusively prove subjective suffering equivalent to higher vertebrates.^[183] ^[184] Activists frequently characterize high-density farming as inherently inhumane due to crowding-induced fin damage and behavioral restriction, yet first-principles comparisons reveal wild fish endure unrelenting threats of predation and famine absent in farms, where enrichment strategies—such as structural hides or variable feeding—have demonstrably improved foraging skills and reduced abnormal behaviors.^[185] ^[186] Slaughter methods represent another focal point, with traditional practices like live chilling or asphyxiation criticized for prolonging distress; however, advancements in electrical or percussive stunning have increased humane endpoints, rendering fish insensible within seconds, as validated in salmonid studies.^[187] Ethically, while some viewpoints prioritize absolute minimization of confinement regardless of outcomes, data-driven analyses emphasize that aquaculture's net welfare gains—via disease control, nutrition consistency, and predator exclusion—outweigh wild analogs, provided ongoing refinements address verifiable stressors.^[188] This tension reflects broader philosophical divides, with empirical metrics favoring scalable improvements over ideological bans on farming.^[189]

Disease Transmission and Wild Stock Interactions

Recent empirical studies in British Columbia, a major center for open-net pen salmon aquaculture, indicate that pathogen transmission from farmed Atlantic salmon to wild Pacific salmon populations does not pose a significant threat. A 2025 analysis by University of California, Davis researchers, reviewing two decades of data, found weak evidence linking farmed salmon pathogens to substantial mortality or decline in wild stocks, challenging narratives of high-risk spillover. Similarly, a peer-reviewed assessment published in July 2025 concluded that the evidence for pathogens transmitted from farmed salmon causing significant impacts on wild populations is limited, with prevalence in wild fish often attributable to natural reservoirs rather than farms.^[190]^[191] Piscine orthoreovirus (PRV), a virus prevalent in British Columbia salmon farms, demonstrates high infectivity but low virulence in Atlantic salmon of Pacific Canada, rarely leading to clinical disease or mortality in wild Pacific species. Canadian government assessments confirm PRV's low disease-causing potential in regional salmonids, with infections typically subclinical and not driving population-level effects. Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), another concern, has been documented in wild Pacific salmon since the 1950s—predating commercial salmon farming by decades—indicating its persistence in natural ecosystems independent of aquaculture.^[192]^[193]^[194] Escaped farmed salmon can interbreed with wild populations, but genetic dilution remains minimal, with models estimating introgression impacts below 1% in most scenarios due to lower fitness of farmed strains in natural environments. Vaccination strategies in aquaculture further mitigate outbreak risks, reducing viral shedding and downstream transmission potential; for instance, immunization against viruses like salmonid alphavirus has achieved relative percent survival rates up to 86% while curbing pathogen loads. While some outbreaks have been correlated with farm proximity, causal attribution is confounded by endemic wild reservoirs, and activist claims of existential threats to wild stocks often exceed the empirical data, as evidenced by longitudinal monitoring showing stable or recovering wild populations despite farming presence.^[195]^[196]^[197]

Feed Resources and Resource Efficiency Claims

The proportion of wild-caught fish in aquaculture feeds has declined substantially, with global fishmeal and fish oil inclusion rates dropping from 23% to 8% between 2000 and 2020, driven by substitutions with plant proteins, microalgae, and insect meals; for Atlantic salmon feeds, marine ingredients now constitute under 20%.^[198]^[96] This shift has stabilized wild fish inputs despite production growth, as forage fish usage per ton of farmed output has fallen, often yielding a fish-in-fish-out (FIFO) ratio below 1 for species like salmon.^[199] Feed conversion ratios (FCR) in salmon aquaculture have improved to 1.1–1.3 kg of feed per kg of harvest weight, reflecting genetic selection, precise feeding technologies, and optimized formulations that enhance nutrient retention and result in net seafood protein gains when non-marine feeds predominate.^[200]^[201] These efficiencies arise from farmed fish converting dietary protein into edible biomass more directly than the multi-trophic losses in wild ecosystems, though FCR remains higher than in poultry (typically 1.5–2.0) due to carnivorous digestive constraints.^[202] Assertions that aquaculture systematically depletes wild stocks for feed overlook the fact that over 30% of global fishmeal derives from by-products of human-edible fisheries (e.g., trimmings from cod and herring), which would otherwise be wasted, and that small pelagic species used (e.g., anchoveta) exhibit rapid biomass turnover and are not direct competitors for higher-value catches.^[203] Plant-based feed transitions further reduce marine dependency, countering depletion narratives, while causal analyses show aquaculture's protein yield per unit input exceeds the fuel-intensive caloric costs of wild trawling, which can require 10–20 times more energy per kg of protein landed.^[199]^[203] Critics, including environmental advocacy groups, contend that reliance on soy and other crops indirectly drives habitat loss through agricultural expansion, citing Amazon deforestation tied to soy monocultures.^[204] However, aquaculture accounts for less than 2% of global soy protein demand, dwarfed by livestock sectors, limiting its marginal contribution to such pressures relative to overall feed system dynamics.^[199] Empirical tracking of supply chains underscores that certified sustainable soy sourcing mitigates these risks without compromising feed efficacy.^[205]

Regulatory and Activist Challenges

In Washington state, a net-pen collapse in November 2022 released thousands of non-native Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound, prompting regulators to enforce a ban on commercial finfish net-pen aquaculture on state-owned aquatic lands, with the prohibition taking full effect in early 2025.^[206]^[207] This followed a 2017 escape of over 250,000 fish and built on a 2018 restriction on non-native species farming, driven by concerns over ecological risks despite industry assessments indicating that such incidents, while notable, have not demonstrably caused widespread genetic dilution or population crashes in native stocks.^[208]^[209] Critics from aquaculture advocates argue that the bans reflect precautionary politics prioritizing activist pressures over site-specific risk data, which shows containment technologies have improved post-incident, potentially limiting innovation in closed-containment alternatives.^[210] Activist campaigns often portray aquaculture expansion as a driver of ocean "decimation," yet Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) records indicate global aquaculture production reached 130.9 million tonnes in 2022—surpassing wild capture for the first time—while wild fisheries output has plateaued around 90 million tonnes since the 1990s without evidence of systemic collapse.^[4]^[25] This divergence undercuts causal claims linking farm growth to wild stock declines, as overexploitation in capture fisheries predates modern aquaculture surges, with 89% of assessed stocks fully exploited or overfished independently of farmed production increases.^[211] Empirical tracking by FAO attributes wild fishery stability to management reforms rather than aquaculture substitution alone, highlighting how unsubstantiated alarmism from environmental groups can amplify regulatory scrutiny without proportional evidence.^[212] Regulatory frameworks like the Aquaculture Stewardship Council's (ASC) updated Farm Standard, launched in May 2025, mandate enhanced transparency in feed sourcing and operations, requiring certified farms to use conforming feeds from ASC-accredited mills by October 31, 2025.^[213]^[214] While intended to build accountability, stringent standards in developed markets correlate with slower aquaculture growth rates, as cross-country analyses show environmental regulations disproportionately burden smaller operators in developing nations, where compliance costs hinder scalability and local innovation.^[215] Overregulation risks exacerbating food security gaps in these regions, where aquaculture contributes up to 50% of animal protein in some low-income countries, by favoring large-scale exporters over adaptive, smallholder models.^[216]

Recent Developments and Future Outlook

Technological Advancements Post-2020

Since 2020, artificial intelligence (AI) has been integrated into aquaculture for precision feeding and predictive analytics, enabling real-time optimization of feed distribution based on fish behavior, biomass estimates, and environmental data. Systems employing AI models, such as convolutional neural networks combined with self-attention mechanisms, predict dissolved oxygen levels and growth rates, reducing overfeeding by up to 20% and minimizing waste while enhancing feed conversion efficiency. In Norway, DNV's 2025 AI-powered Smarter Compliance tool automates regulatory monitoring of fish farm integrity, cutting manual documentation by automating compliance checks on parameters like net integrity and biomass, thereby addressing operational densities that previously risked escapes or inefficiencies.^[217]^[175]^[218] Drone-based monitoring has advanced post-2020, with unmanned aerial vehicles equipped for overhead surveillance of pond and cage conditions, detecting anomalies in fish schooling or water quality to reduce labor requirements by automating patrols that previously demanded manual inspections. These systems, including hybrid aerial-underwater drones, collect data on water parameters and fish health, potentially lowering operational losses from undetected issues by 30% through timely interventions that mitigate high-density stressors like uneven feeding. Selective breeding programs, accelerated by genomic selection tools since 2021, have targeted disease resistance in species like Atlantic salmon, yielding strains with 10-15% improved survival rates against pathogens such as sea lice without relying on gene editing.^[219]^[220]^[221] Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) have expanded significantly post-2020, with land-based facilities reusing up to 99% of water through advanced biofiltration and hydrodynamics, slashing freshwater demands compared to traditional flow-through methods and enabling higher stocking densities with controlled environments that boost yields by 10-20% via reduced disease transmission. Integration of microalgae in RAS biofilters removes 60-90% of nutrients while producing biomass for feed, further enhancing resource efficiency in commercial operations like salmon smolt production. These advancements collectively tackle density-related challenges, such as oxygen depletion and waste accumulation, by enabling data-driven adjustments that sustain productivity without expanding physical footprints.^[222]^[223]^[224]

Sustainability Standards and Policy Evolutions

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) released an updated Feed Standard (version 1.1) in 2024, mandating its full effect from November 1, 2025, to align aquafeed production with farm-level reporting and prioritize ingredients that reduce environmental footprints, such as through sourcing from low-impact fisheries and minimizing wild fish use.^[225]^[226] This builds on prior iterations by incorporating criteria for entire feed facilities, even those producing non-aquatic feeds, to curb broader ecological pressures from raw material extraction.^[227] In the European Union, the Commission issued staff working documents in April 2024 outlining regulatory and administrative frameworks to foster sustainable aquaculture expansion, including access to coastal spaces, adaptation to climate variability, and energy transitions aimed at lowering carbon intensities.^[228] These guidelines emphasize voluntary good practices over stringent mandates, with a focus on integrating aquaculture into maritime spatial planning to balance growth against ecosystem preservation.^[229] United States policy has supported aquaculture scaling, evidenced by an 18% rise in operational farms from 2,924 in 2018 to 3,453 in 2023, alongside a 26% increase in total sales to $1.9 billion, driven by federal censuses tracking production amid incentives for domestic supply security.^[67]^[230] Market-driven certifications like ASC have incentivized compliance more effectively than top-down regulations, as producers respond to premium pricing for verified low-impact operations, yielding measurable environmental gains such as reduced global warming potential (GWP) in certified salmon production to around 4.98 kg CO₂ equivalent per kg harvested.^[231] Enforcement remains uneven, particularly in Asia-Pacific regions where regulatory gaps exacerbate challenges like inconsistent monitoring of antibiotic use and effluent discharges, limiting standard adherence despite policy frameworks.^[232]^[233] Nonetheless, rising certification volumes—such as ASC's 20% site growth in prior years—and policy evolutions signal a positive shift toward data-verified sustainability, with empirical compliance correlating to 15-20% GWP reductions in aligned operations per lifecycle assessments.^[234]

Projections for Expansion and Challenges

The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2025-2034 forecasts global fish production, encompassing capture fisheries and aquaculture, to expand by 14% over the projection period, with aquaculture driving the majority of growth through productivity gains in emerging markets of Asia and Africa.^[235] In the preceding 2024-2033 outlook, total production was projected to rise from 185 million tonnes in the base period to 206 million tonnes by 2033, a trend expected to continue as aquaculture's share of overall output increases to 56% by 2034 from 52%, outpacing stagnant wild capture volumes.^[236] ^[237] This expansion positions aquaculture to satisfy rising protein needs for a growing population, supplying scalable aquatic animal protein without relying on overexploited wild stocks, which have plateaued amid maximum sustainable yields.^[238] ^[239] Key challenges include climate-induced stressors such as ocean warming, which elevate water temperatures and disrupt fish metabolism, reproduction, and disease susceptibility, potentially reducing yields in tropical and coastal zones.^[233] ^[240] Rising sea levels may further degrade coastal habitats like mangroves essential for larval fish nurseries, exacerbating vulnerabilities in nearshore farms.^[240] Offshore aquaculture mitigates these risks by leveraging deeper, more stable waters less prone to temperature extremes and eutrophication, though it demands advancements in durable infrastructure and monitoring to address higher operational costs and storm exposure.^[241] ^[242] Sustained innovation in alternative feeds, genetic selection for resilient strains, and integrated multi-trophic systems—combining fish with extractive species like seaweed and shellfish—can enhance resource efficiency and ecosystem resilience, enabling hybrid models that buffer against wild fishery declines.^[243] Regulatory streamlining and investment in these technologies are projected to accelerate adoption, provided empirical data from pilot operations inform scalable deployment without undue constraints from environmental advocacy.^[238] By 2034, such adaptations could stabilize supply amid demand pressures, with aquaculture markets valued at up to USD 513 billion, underscoring its role in global food security if causal factors like technological diffusion prevail over localized hurdles.^[244]

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[PDF] Frequently Asked Questions—Copper Alloys in Aquaculture June ...
The antimicrobial, fungicidal and algicidal properties of copper alloys significantly reduce fouling ... exchange are inhibited due to clogged nets in fish pens.
[61]
Marine aquaculture with copper alloy nets - Global Seafood Alliance
Jul 2, 2012 · The use of copper alloy nets in marine aquaculture shows promise in improving biofouling resistance and net chamber volume integrity.
[62]
Impacts of fish farm structures with biomass on water currents
An active farm site typically contains 6–12 cages, anchored within a gridded structure, with a production of up to 12,000 tons per year. Intensive salmon ...
[63]
Net-Pen Aquaculture in the Pacific Northwest: Frequently Asked ...
Mar 31, 2025 · A net pen or sea cage is an enclosed floating cage. The structure holds farmed fish or fish used to enhance commercial and/or recreational fishing.Missing: advantages | Show results with:advantages
[64]
Spatiotemporal Dispersal and Deposition of Fish Farm Wastes
In the present study a dispersion model (DREAM) with high resolution 3D data from a hydrodynamic model (SINMOD) is applied to simulating the dispersion and ...
[65]
CAPOT: A flexible rapid assessment model to estimate local ...
The dispersion is estimated for individual fish pens in 10m intervals for a distance of 500m within sectors along eight compass axes (North, Northeast, East, ...
[66]
Environmental Safeguards for Open-Ocean Aquaculture
The risks of large-scale escapes are high if cages are located in areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico, that are prone to severe storms capable of destroying oil ...Missing: advantages | Show results with:advantages
[67]
USDA Releases the 2023 Census of Aquaculture Results
Dec 16, 2024 · In 2023, there were 3,453 aquaculture farms with sales in the United States, up 18% from 2018. Five states – Mississippi, Washington, Louisiana, ...Missing: based tilapia
[68]
Norwegian Salmon - Farmed on the Doorstep of Major Urban ...
Jul 9, 2024 · Norwegian salmon is farmed near Chinese cities using RAS, reducing transport costs and carbon footprint, with the first large-scale farm near ...
[69]
[PDF] FISH FARMING IN RECIRCULATING AQUACULTURE SYSTEMS ...
Similarly, since water is reused, the water volume requirements in RAS are only about. 20% of what conventional open pond culture demands. They offer a ...
[70]
Energy optimization in large-scale recirculating aquaculture systems
Implementation resulted in a 15–20 % reduction in daily energy consumption while maintaining optimal water quality. Economic analysis revealed a 17 % decrease ...
[71]
general methodology of composite fish culture
The aim in composite fish culture, is achieved through intensive culture of fast-growing, compatible fish species with complementary feeding habits.
[72]
Types of Fish Culture based on species number: Monoculture and ...
Feb 26, 2018 · Polyculture is the practice of culturing more than one species of aquatic organism in the same pond. Success of polyculture depends on synergism ...
[73]
(PDF) Aquaculture, Integrated Multi-trophic (IMTA) - ResearchGate
The main idea in IMTA system is reducing nutrient losses in aquatic ... IMTA can reduce the ecological impacts near aquaculture operations, improve ...
[74]
The potential of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture as an ...
Environmentally, the results show that IMTA systems can effectively remove surplus nutrients, balance the nutrient budget, and reduce carbon emissions from ...
[75]
Nutrient retention efficiencies in integrated multi‐trophic aquaculture
Dec 20, 2021 · This study is thereby the first to provide quantitative estimates for nutrient retention across IMTA systems.Missing: empirical | Show results with:empirical
[76]
Ecological risks, remedies, and knowledge gaps - ScienceDirect
Here we synthesize information on the ecological risks posed by offshore aquaculture and how to mitigate them.
[77]
(PDF) Recent developments in offshore fish pens - ResearchGate
Sep 26, 2024 · This paper will present various offshore fish pens that have been built as well as newly proposed conceptual designs that are based on these two design ...
[78]
Offshore Fish Farming: Challenges and Developments in Fish Pen ...
Offshore fish farming has its challenges due to its being a relatively high energy environment with poor accessibility in the more remote sites.
[79]
State of the Art and Challenges for Offshore Integrated Multi-Trophic ...
This paper summarizes the current state of knowledge on the implications of the exposed nature of offshore and open ocean sites.Missing: empirical | Show results with:empirical
[80]
Norway's Marine Donut reports low salmon mortality during first full ...
Dec 18, 2024 · Norway's Marine Donut reports low salmon mortality during first full-scale test. Bluegreen Group tested a closed containment system with 195,000 ...<|separator|>
[81]
Norway launches long-awaited growth scheme for closed ... - Intrafish
Oct 9, 2025 · The Norwegian government has officially launched a long-anticipated growth scheme for closed aquaculture systems, offering salmon farmers on ...
[82]
4. artificial propagation of finfish
General considerations. Hypophysation is presently the most commonly used technique for the artificial propagation of fish.
[83]
Optimization of Nile Tilapia Artificial Breeding Using Human ... - NIH
Jun 2, 2025 · The objective of this study is to establish an effective hCG-induced artificial breeding protocol for gene editing and aquaculture production.Missing: propagation | Show results with:propagation
[84]
The effects of different hormone administration methods on ...
Administration of exogenous hormones has been used commonly for induced artificial spawning of cultured and wild fish (Horváth et al., 1997; Zohar and Mylonas, ...
[85]
Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) genetics in the 21st century
Advances in genomics have become increasingly central to the genetic improvement of farmed Atlantic salmon as well as conservation of wild salmon stocks. The ...
[86]
(PDF) Past, present, and future of genetic improvement in salmon ...
Aug 5, 2025 · Selective breeding programs have increased domesticated salmon growth rates (82) ; however, since growth traits are polygenic, understanding ...
[87]
Advances in genetic improvement for salmon and trout aquaculture ...
Apr 25, 2019 · Genetic improvement is key to the development of a more efficient aquaculture industry. By 2010, there were 104 breeding programmes for ...
[88]
What are core 5 KPIs of Fish Hatchery Business?
Aug 31, 2025 · Industry benchmarks for trout fingerlings from hatch to sale are typically above 90%. A decline in the survival rate from 95% to 85% on a batch ...
[89]
9. fish propagation - MANAGEMENT for freshwater fish culture
For artificial propagation , the females are given one or more injections of chemicals which regulate the final ripening of dormant eggs in the ovaries. As soon ...
[90]
Stocking density optimization and its impact on growth and ...
Jul 15, 2024 · A stocking density of Nile tilapia at 229 fish/m 3 is ideal for a hybrid biofloc-RAS culture system (HBR) with better growth, immunity, physiological responses ...
[91]
Effects of stocking density and grading on behaviour, cannibalism ...
African catfish fry shows highest aggression at lowest stocking densities. Regular grading reduces mortality rates from 25 to less than 5 %.
[92]
Influence of stocking density on growth and survival of intensively ...
Jun 20, 2025 · Three stocking densities were evaluated (low: 6.25 fry/L; medium: 12.5 fry/L; high: 18.75 fry/L) in triplicate in a larviculture system with 240 ...
[93]
Improvement in feed efficiency and reduction in nutrient loading from ...
The data from the commercial farms showed that from 1980 onwards, the farm-level feed conversion ratio improved by 53.4%, and the specific nitrogen and ...
[94]
Feeding aquaculture in an era of finite resources - PNAS
Sep 8, 2009 · The ratio of wild fisheries inputs to farmed fish output has fallen to 0.63 for the aquaculture sector as a whole but remains as high as 5.0 for ...<|separator|>
[95]
The Evolution of Sustainability Metrics for the Marine Ingredient Sector
Jun 14, 2024 · Historically, over the past thirty years an improving trend in eFCR has been observed across all fed aquaculture sectors ( Table 2 ). Key ...
[96]
Continued transitions from fish meal and oil in aquafeeds require ...
Jul 23, 2025 · To reduce historical wild fish use in feeds, salmon aquaculture has increased its reliance on agricultural inputs. We show how this shift can ...
[97]
Feed the fish: A review of aquaculture feeders and their strategic ...
Aug 10, 2025 · Automatic feeders are revolutionizing aquaculture by enabling precise and controlled feeding regimens that optimize growth, reduce feed ...
[98]
AI meets aquaculture: Smart fish feeder cuts labor and waste
Jun 3, 2025 · Using AI-based computer vision to estimate fish biomass, the fish feeder automatically dispenses feed in precise amounts. The feeder is fitted ...
[99]
[PDF] Environmental consequences of poor feed quality and feed ...
Overfeeding also reduces feeding efficiency (Talbot, Corneillie and Korsøen,. 1999) and increases feed wastage (Thorpe and Cho, 1995), which in turn can ...
[100]
Automatic recognition methods of fish feeding behavior in aquaculture
Nov 15, 2020 · This paper reviews the technical methods that have been used to identify fish feeding behavior in aquaculture over the past 30 years.
[101]
Feed the fish: A review of aquaculture feeders and their strategic ...
Mar 30, 2025 · This risk of overfeeding and feed waste, along with a desire for finer control and monitoring, is leading much of the industry to instead adopt ...Missing: rations percentage
[102]
[PDF] The Progressive Management Pathway for Aquaculture Biosecurity
May 22, 2023 · risk-based and people-centered approach to planning disease control measures for aquaculture systems. A value-chain approach to manage disease ...
[103]
[PDF] Improving biosecurity: a necessity for aquaculture sustainability
Biosecurity includes control of the spread of aquatic plant and animal diseases and invasive pests, and the production of products that are safe to eat. For ...
[104]
(PDF) Biosecurity: Reducing the burden of disease - ResearchGate
Conservative estimates suggest that 10 percent of all cultured aquatic animals are lost on a global scale,. because of infectious diseases alone, amounting to ...
[105]
Aquaculture Fish Health - NOAA Fisheries
Sep 19, 2024 · These include vaccines, probiotics, limiting culture density, high-quality diets and when appropriate, judicious use of antibiotics.Missing: journals | Show results with:journals
[106]
Current Challenges of Vaccination in Fish Health Management - PMC
Formaldehyde is used to sterilize fish. Although vaccination with inactivated vaccines effectively prevents the spread of diseases, this method is deemed ...
[107]
Biological control of a parasite: The efficacy of cleaner fish in salmon ...
In salmon farming, parasitic sea lice reduce own-firm profitability by stressing fish and slowing growth and generate externalities by spreading to neighboring ...
[108]
Prime-boost vaccination with chimeric antigens adjuvanted in ...
Results and discussion: TT-P0 vaccinated fish had a significantly lower lice number at all three challenges, 88, 90, and 20%, respectively, compared to controls ...
[109]
Sea lice as a density-dependent constraint to salmonid farming
Feb 8, 2012 · We document that densities of farmed salmonids surrounding individual farms have a strong effect on farm levels of parasitic sea lice and efforts to control ...
[110]
Norwegian salmon farming sees continued drop in antibiotics use
Oct 7, 2020 · The industry only had to use 222kgs of antibiotics. In comparison, the Norwegian land animal farming used 4,673kgs in their production, ...Missing: per | Show results with:per
[111]
The success recipe for eradicating antibiotics in Norwegian salmon ...
Nov 18, 2021 · The Norwegian aquaculture industry uses less antibiotics than any other animal farming, and in 2020, 99 percent of Norwegian salmon have never been treated ...Missing: kg | Show results with:kg
[112]
11. fish harvesting from ponds
2. The method consists in concentrating the fish to be harvested within a small depression, built in front of the outlet. This is called a catch basin . ...
[113]
HANDBOOK12. Harvesting your pond
YOU HAVE LEARNED HOW TO HARVEST YOUR FISH · don't drain any water; use a net (3-3.5 cm mesh for big fish) · drain part of the water and use a net ...
[114]
Chapter 20 Mechanized Harvesting in Fish Culture
Mechanized fish harvesting involves driving fish with mechanical, hydraulic, or electrical methods, lifting them using mechanical or hydraulic devices, and ...
[115]
Chapter 7.3. - WOAH
Percussive stunning is achieved by a blow of sufficient strength to the head applied above or immediately adjacent to the brain in order to damage the brain.
[116]
Effects of electrical and percussive stunning on neural, ventilatory ...
Jan 15, 2025 · While potentially more humane stunning and killing methods (i.e., electrical and percussive stunning) have been recommended by the OIE, the ...
[117]
In-water electric stunning as a humane commercial method for ...
We conclude that in-water electric stunning can deliver instant and lasting unconsciousness for salmonid juveniles and is well suited for culling operations.
[118]
[PDF] Electrical Stunning of Salmon - Humane Slaughter Association
Because of this, the period of insensibility for salmon is finite so the fish must be killed by another method such as percussive stunning or bleeding ...
[119]
Impact of slaughter method on stress in organic common carp ...
Nov 8, 2024 · To assess the level of stress experienced by fish, the following biochemical blood parameters were analysed: cortisol, glucose, lactic acid and ...
[120]
[PDF] Humane Slaughter of Carp – A Comparison between Three ...
Jun 3, 2016 · The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of three stunning procedures on stress and meat quality of common carp. The experimental fish ...
[121]
Effect of harvesting stress and slaughter conditions on selected flesh ...
Both harvesting stress and slaughter method had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on muscle pH, with highest values found in fish subjected to PA conditions, and ...
[122]
Humane stunning or stun/killing in the slaughter of wild-caught finfish
Humane stunning or stun/killing methods recommended for farmed fish fall into two main categories, mechanical, including percussive stunning, spiking or coring ...
[123]
First Processing Steps and the Quality of Wild and Farmed Fish - NIH
Wild fish are harvested by a large variety of methods, such as different kind of nets, hooks, pots, and so on. Depending on the method used the capture of wild ...
[124]
A comparative study on quality, shelf life and sensory attributes of ...
Jul 15, 2021 · The purpose of this study was to investigate the shelf life and quality of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) slaughtered onboard vessels and shipped to Denmark.
[125]
Inside The Seafood Processing Industry: How Plants Work
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[126]
Maximizing the Shelf Life of Frozen Fish Products - Agriculture Institute
Dec 17, 2023 · When stored as whole or filleted blocks at -18°C, lean fish can last between 4 to 8 months. Fatty fish: Fatty fish have a higher fat content, ...
[127]
Utilization and processing of fisheries and aquaculture production
Proper handling, processing, preservation, packaging and storage measures are essential to extend shelf-life, ensure food safety, maintain quality and ...
[128]
[PDF] Seafood Shelf Life as a Function of Temperature - Alaska Sea Grant
Temperature and handling are key factors; higher temperatures cause faster spoilage. The formula r = (0.1t + 1) relates spoilage rate to temperature (t in °C).
[129]
Total fisheries and aquaculture production
Of the 185 million tonnes of aquatic animals produced in 2022, 51 percent (94 million tonnes) was from aquaculture and 49 percent (91 million tonnes) from ...
[130]
FAO releases the most detailed global assessment of marine fish ...
Jun 11, 2025 · The report confirms that 64.5 percent of all fishery stocks are exploited within biologically sustainable levels, with 35.5 percent of stocks classified as ...
[131]
Global aquaculture surging, with production surpassing wild-catch ...
Jun 10, 2024 · “While capture fisheries production has remained largely unchanged for decades, aquaculture has increased by 6.6 percent since 2020, ...
[132]
Record fisheries and aquaculture production makes critical ...
Jun 29, 2022 · Aquatic foods contribute about 17 percent of the animal proteins consumed in 2019, reaching 23 percent in lower-middle-income countries and more ...
[133]
14 Life below water - Data | The World Bank
Almost 90 percent of global marine fish stocks are now fully exploited or overfished, and wild capture fisheries struggle without sound regulatory frameworks ...
[134]
FAO Report: Global fisheries and aquaculture production reaches a ...
Jun 5, 2024 · Record production of aquatic foods underlines the sector's potential in tackling food insecurity and malnutrition. Global apparent consumption ...
[135]
Employment in fisheries and aquaculture
In 2020, an estimated 58.5 million were engaged as full-time, part-time, occasional or unspecified workers in fisheries and aquaculture, and of these ...
[136]
NOAA Fisheries Releases Fisheries of the United States, 2022
Nov 7, 2024 · In 2022, estimated freshwater and marine aquaculture production was 663 million pounds with a value of $1.7 billion reflecting growth in this sector.Missing: crustaceans | Show results with:crustaceans
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Norway's banner year for seafood exports fueled by currency ...
Jan 9, 2024 · Aquaculture accounted for 75 percent of the overall value of Norway's exports, up 16 percent to NOK 128.7 billion (USD 12.4 billion, EUR ...
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https://www.statista.com/statistics/960105/chile-salmon-exports-value/
[139]
An Economic Comparison of Three Intensive Fish Production Systems
A study was conducted to compare the economic costs and returns of three intensive aquaculture production systems located in Auburn and Browns, Alabama. The ...
[140]
Benefits of Agricultural R&D International Spillovers: The case of ...
Mar 30, 2021 · A basic reason is that developing countries account for over 90% of the global production of farmed fish. Consequently, technology “leakages ...
[141]
Fish as food: aquaculture's contribution - NIH
Total aquaculture production increased from 10 million tonnes of fish in 1984 to 38 million tonnes in 1998 (FAO, 2000), and a growth rate of 11% per year has ...
[142]
Identification and quantification of lipids in wild and farmed Atlantic ...
Apr 28, 2022 · Both wild and farmed salmon contained approximately equal amount of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid with 520 and 523 mg/100 g ...
[143]
Which is Better: Wild Salmon or Farmed Salmon? - Healthline
Aug 27, 2021 · Farmed salmon has a lot of health benefits. The fish also tend to be larger than wild salmon and occasionally provide more omega-3s. However, ...
[144]
Finding omega-3 fats in fish: Farmed versus wild - Harvard Health
Dec 23, 2015 · Compared to the wild-caught varieties, farmed fish tended to have higher levels of omega-3s, but they also contained higher levels of saturated ...
[145]
Farmed Salmon vs. Wild Salmon | Washington State Department of ...
Farmed salmon fillets contain as many grams of omega-3 fatty acids as wild salmon because farmed salmon are fattier than wild salmon. New feeds are being ...
[146]
(PDF) An Update on the Content of Fatty Acids, Dioxins, PCBs and ...
May 9, 2025 · It has been reported that toxic compounds are more prevalent in certain wild fish compared to farmed fish, which are cultivated in controlled ...
[147]
Do farmed salmon contain lower levels of dioxins and PCBs ...
No, farmed salmon generally contain lower levels of dioxins and PCBs compared to wild salmon, though results can vary by region and over time.
[148]
The potential impact of compositional changes in farmed fish on its ...
Nevertheless, the concentrations of contaminants in farmed fish, taking into account current consumption patterns, represent a negligible risk to CHD and ...
[149]
Quantitative Analysis of the Benefits and Risks of Consuming ...
This analysis suggests that risk of exposure to contaminants in farmed and wild salmon is partially offset by the fatty acid–associated health benefits.
[150]
Enriched feeds with iodine and selenium from natural and ...
Fortified diets resulted in increased I, Se and Fe in fish muscle. Biofortified seabream and carp revealed lower Cu and Br. The reduction of fishmeal and fish ...
[151]
Effects of steaming on health-valuable nutrients from fortified farmed ...
Fish fortification with iodine-rich macroalgae (Laminaria digitata) and Selenium-rich yeast is expected to promote nutritional added value of this crucial ...
[152]
Aquatic foods to nourish nations | Nature
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https://seafooddirect.co.uk/blogs/news/farm-raised-vs-wild-caught-seafood
[154]
The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture
The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2024 provides the most up-to-date and evidence-based information, supporting policy, scientific and technical ...
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Can global aquaculture growth help to conserve wild fish stocks ...
Aug 5, 2021 · An empirical application shows that predator–prey linkages reduce but not overthrow the positive effects of global aquaculture growth on the ...
[156]
Aquaculture, capture fisheries, and wild fish stocks - ScienceDirect
These results suggest a very positive role could be played by aquaculture in rebuilding wild fish stocks. At present, the problem of depleted wild stocks is met ...
[157]
Constraints in supply of wild fish: empirical evidence and ...
Oct 15, 2025 · Whilst some species are both fished and raised in aquaculture, the high diversity significantly increases the potential for substitution, making ...
[158]
(PDF) Constraints in supply of wild fish: empirical evidence and ...
Oct 18, 2025 · Key substitutions include aquaculture species within the same markets or, to a lesser degree, shifting toward land-based alternatives.
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(PDF) Plankton response to nutrient enrichment is maximized at ...
Aug 6, 2025 · Results showed that the plankton response to nutrient enrichment is more pronounced at intermediate distances from the farm.Missing: empirical | Show results with:empirical
[160]
Impact of aquaculture and agriculture nutrient sources on ...
While fertilizer mostly increased algal growth, close proximity to the fish farm increased growth of the green annual Ulva, but slightly decreased growth of the ...Missing: empirical | Show results with:empirical
[161]
How do farmed salmon affect CO2 emissions? - Salmonfacts
Oct 8, 2019 · Salmon farming emits less CO2 than meat, with 1 kg of salmon at 2.5 CO2 equivalents, compared to 30 for cattle and 5.9 for pork. Most emissions ...
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[PDF] The total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from farmed salmon in ...
Mar 1, 2021 · Scottish salmon farming produced 616ktCO2e of GHG emissions in 2019, with a carbon footprint of 3kgCO2e per kg of liveweight at the farm gate.
[163]
Quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from global aquaculture
Jul 15, 2020 · The total GHG emissions for this 93% were 245 MtCO2e (Table 2). Assuming that the remaining 7% of production has the same emissions intensity ( ...
[164]
Research suggests rapid benthic recovery beneath fallow salmon ...
Jun 13, 2023 · New research by Scottish Sea Farms suggests that the benthic ecosystems beneath salmon pens can recover more swiftly than originally thought, once the pens are ...
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Benthic recovery after fish farming cessation: A “beyond-BACI ...
▻ A partial recovery of the benthic recovery was achieved after 1 year. Introduction. Marine soft sediments exposed to a continuous supply of organic waste from ...
[166]
escapement fish farm - Today's Farmed Fish
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[167]
Evaluation of shortterm fallowing as a strategy for the management ...
Aug 6, 2025 · The similarity of the impact sites to the reference sites increased from ca. 25% to 31% at one site and 11% to 27% at the other after fallowing.
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Biogeochemical impacts of fish farming on coastal sediments - NIH
Dec 22, 2022 · Field observations confirmed the strong geochemical impact of fish farming on the sediment (up to 150 m away from cages). Sulfide accumulation ...
[169]
Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture: A Laboratory and Hands-on ...
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The environmental effect on the seabed of an offshore marine fish ...
Dec 15, 2021 · This study suggests that offshore oceanographic conditions may promote organic matter dispersion, diminishing the load that the sediment ...
[171]
New study finds offshore aquaculture has low environmental impact
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MSU-developed vaccine, delivery system ease antibiotic resistance ...
May 2, 2025 · From 2018-2024, as participating farms were administering the ESC vaccine, orders for various medicated feeds dropped 69-78%. And as antibiotic ...
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Does the Recent Growth of Aquaculture Create Antibiotic ... - NIH
For example, in 2003, salmon aquaculture in Chile used about 0.5 kg of antibiotic for each kg of salmon produced, whereas the amount in Norway was 0.002 kg (26 ...
[174]
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Dec 14, 2020 · At current rates, global antimicrobial consumption in aquaculture is expected to increase 33% between 2017 and 2030. These estimates are ...
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AI-driven aquaculture: A review of technological innovations and ...
The integration of AI technologies into aquaculture practices has facilitated real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and automated decision-making, all of ...
[176]
AI For Environmental Sustainability: 2025 Monitoring & Aquaculture
AI Monitoring of Water Quality: Advanced sensors and analytics monitor dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, and turbidity, ensuring optimal living conditions for ...
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The effect of environmental stressors on growth in fish and its ...
Cortisol is usually released when fish are under conditions of stress, and one of the consequences observed is an increase in the plasmatic levels of growth ...
[179]
Domestication as the driver of lower chronic stress levels in fish in ...
The relatively high scale cortisol levels detected in many of the wild carp and salmon suggested these fish are more chronically stressed than their ...
[180]
Evaluation of stress in farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) using ...
Research indicates that elevated water velocity, up to 1.5 BL/s, can decrease cortisol levels, reduce aggression, mitigate dominance hierarchies, enhance growth ...Missing: wild | Show results with:wild
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Epizootics of wild fish induced by farm fish - PMC - NIH
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[182]
Natural mortality: Its ecology, how it shapes fish life histories, and ...
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A Review of the Scientific Literature for Evidence of Fish Sentience
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Reasons to Be Skeptical about Sentience and Pain in Fishes and ...
Oct 4, 2023 · Recognising trade-offs between welfare and environmental outcomes in aquaculture will enable good decisions. Source: Aquaculture Environment ...
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The next frontier for animal welfare: Fish - Vox
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[PDF] Cognitive enrichment to increase fish welfare in aquaculture: A review
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[PDF] Using ethology to improve farmed fish welfare and production
Environmental enrichment can potentially mitigate the effects of such stressors, yet all strategies need verification for the farming context. For slaughter,.
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Fish welfare in farms: potential, knowledge gaps and other insights ...
Oct 8, 2024 · The fair-fish database aims to provide a consistent overview of the welfare of farmed fish. This platform consolidates ethological knowledge into profiles of ...
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Pain, Sentience, and Animal Welfare - Pressbooks at Virginia Tech
While some scientists reject the empirical evidence on fish sentience, animal welfare practices are costly, debatable, and engage numerous social values and ...
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20-year Study Shows B.C. Salmon Farms Pose Minimal Risk To Wild
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Pathogens From Salmon Aquaculture in Relation to Conservation of ...
Jul 6, 2025 · The evidence is weak that pathogens transmitted from farmed salmon cause significant impacts on wild salmon populations.
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Piscine orthoreovirus demonstrates high infectivity but low virulence ...
Mar 13, 2019 · ... PRV infections of Atlantic salmon in Pacific Canada are of low virulence. ... Whole-genome analysis of piscine reovirus (PRV) shows PRV represents ...
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Piscine Orthoreovirus (PRV) and Heart and Skeletal Muscle ...
Mar 11, 2024 · This suggests PRV in BC has a low ability to cause disease (low virulence) for these species; The disease HSMI is diagnosed by the occurrence ...
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Diseases of wild and farmed Finfish - The Scottish Government
Dec 17, 2019 · Infectious haematopoietic necrosis (IHN) is an infectious viral disease of salmon and trout. It was first recognised in the 1950s in sockeye and chinook salmon.<|separator|>
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(PDF) Model-based evaluation of the genetic impacts of farm ...
Aug 6, 2025 · Here we demonstrate a model-based approach to assessing these potential genetic interactions using a salmon aquaculture expansion scenario in southern ...Missing: dilution | Show results with:dilution
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Immune responses in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) following ...
Our findings indicated that immunization induced effective protection in Atlantic salmon with a relative percent survival (RPS) as high as 86.Missing: farming | Show results with:farming
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Scientific papers 'dispel myth' that fish farms harm wild salmon
Aug 7, 2025 · “These studies add to a growing and increasingly rigorous body of scientific evidence concluding that salmon farms in BC do not harm wild salmon ...
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A review of the global use of fishmeal and fish oil ... - PubMed Central
Oct 16, 2024 · Inclusion rates—the fraction of FMFO contained in compound feeds for aquaculture—have decreased, from 23 to 8% over the past two decades (29).
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Feeding global aquaculture | Science Advances
Oct 16, 2024 · The growth of animal aquaculture requires ever more feed. Yet, fish and crustacean farming is argued to be sustainable because wild fish use is low and has ...Missing: multiplier | Show results with:multiplier
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[PDF] Salmon Farming Industry Handbook 2025 - MOWI
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Farmed Salmon's Role in Sustainable Food Systems
Farm-raised fish have one of the lowest feed-conversion ratios and farmed salmon on average need 1.1 to 1.5 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of body mass. In ...
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Genetic analysis of individual feed intake and efficiency in Atlantic ...
Improving feed efficiency (FE) is poised to become a primary focus of future aquaculture breeding programs, with ongoing research aiming to incorporate this ...
[203]
Refuting Marine Aquaculture Myths, Unfounded Criticisms, and ...
Nov 1, 2021 · This paper refutes the most prevalent critiques by reviewing current policies, regulations, research and industry production practices.
[204]
Soy helped build aquaculture into a global force. How far can it take it?
Mar 29, 2021 · Soy is the most used protein source in aquaculture feeds worldwide, but with a range of environmental and social issues tied to Brazil, ...
[205]
Exploring sustainable alternatives in aquaculture feeding: The role ...
With the declining availability of wild fish and crustaceans, aquaculture becomes a crucial protein source for both humans and animals (Alfiko et al., 2022).
[206]
Washington State Formally Bans Net Pen Aquaculture Seven Years ...
Jan 19, 2025 · Washington State Formally Bans Net Pen Aquaculture Seven Years After Net Pen Collapse Released Atlantic Salmon Into Puget Sound.
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Washington state bans commercial finfish aquaculture - Facebook
Jan 7, 2025 · Commercial finfish aquaculture has been banned in Washington state-owned aquatic lands! In November, 2022, as a result of a devastating Atlantic salmon net pen ...Fish farms ban on state-owned aquatic lands goes into effectWashington state bans salmon farms to protect waters - FacebookMore results from www.facebook.com
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Washington State fish farms ban 'is out of step with America'
Jan 8, 2025 · Net-pen farming of non-native fish – which has in practice meant Atlantic salmon – has been banned in Washington since 2018, following an escape ...
[209]
Washington state bans salmon farms - High Country News
Jan 24, 2024 · Washington state bans salmon farms. An escape of non-native salmon prompted the state to shut down aquaculture. by Jodi Peterson ...<|separator|>
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Aquaculture group seeks judicial review of Washington State fish ...
Feb 28, 2025 · Net-pen farming of non-native fish – which has in practice meant Atlantic salmon – has been banned in Washington since 2018, following an escape ...
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Have we reached peak fish? - The Guardian
Jul 21, 2023 · Farmed fish production is on the increase while wild fishing has plateaued. World capture fisheries and aquaculture production, million tonnes.
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Why aquaculture may not conserve wild fish | Science Advances
Oct 16, 2024 · The plateau of global fish captures may (misleadingly) suggest that, in recent decades, pressure and overfishing have been reduced and—coupled ...
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[PDF] The ASC Farm Standard
Mar 18, 2025 · From 31st October 2025, the ASC Feed Standard will require ASC certified farms to use conforming feed from ASC certified feed mills.
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ASC Farm Standard Aligns Strongly With CARE Salmon's Animal ...
Sep 15, 2025 · ASC is proud that its Farm Standard, launched in May 2025, already reflects and aligns with these recommendations, reinforcing our commitment ...
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Stringency of environmental regulation and aquaculture growth
Aug 6, 2025 · Our empirical results suggest that stricter environmental regulations in developed countries have contributed to lower growth rates and that ...
[216]
Aquaculture as a dysfunctional system of action; Why does fish ...
The increased economic importance would strengthen the political representation of aquaculture and thus change the overregulated, legal framework in the sense ...Aquaculture As A... · 5. Results · Appendix 3: Thematic Fields...
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Aquaculture Industry: New AI-powered technology by DNV set to ...
Aug 19, 2025 · Industry-first automated compliance solution to reduce manual documentation handling and enable continuous control of fish farm integrity, ...
[218]
Hybrid deep learning framework for real-time DO prediction ... - Nature
Jul 9, 2025 · This study proposes a water quality estimation model by combining a convolutional neural network (CNN), self-attention (SA), and bidirectional simple recurrent ...
[219]
Path Planning Algorithms for Robotic Aquaculture Monitoring - arXiv
Apr 20, 2022 · The Hybrid Aerial Underwater Robotic System (HAUCS) is designed to collect water quality data of aquaculture ponds to reduce labor costs for ...<|separator|>
[220]
Drones and the Future of Animal Production and Aquaculture
In aquaculture, drones are helping to monitor fish health and feed, reducing losses by up to 30%. These innovative applications provide a glimpse of how ...
[221]
Advancing disease-resistant stock in aquaculture: a brief overview
Disease-resistant fish are produced through selective breeding, using traditional and modern genetic approaches, including genomic selection and gene editing.
[222]
Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) - Fish Farm Feeder
Aug 20, 2025 · Water efficiency: Up to 99% of water can be reused within the system. Biosecurity: Reduced exposure to pathogens compared to offshore ...
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Recirculating aquaculture systems: Advances, impacts, and ...
Oct 10, 2025 · RAS engineering cuts energy use by 20–40 % with advanced hydrodynamics. · Microalgae in RAS remove 60–90 % nutrients, yielding biomass for feed/ ...
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Recent advances in recirculating aquaculture systems and role of ...
Compared to conventional flow-through aquaculture systems, RAS offers several advantages including higher productivity, reduced water usage, better biosecurity, ...
[225]
[PDF] ASC Feed Standard v1.1 - Aquaculture Stewardship Council
Sep 9, 2024 · Consultation will be accessible on the ASC website for 60 days (9 September –. 9 November 2024). ASC Feed Standard v1.1 will be published. Q2 ...
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ASC Feed Standard - Aquaculture Stewardship Council
The ASC Feed Standard V1. 1 has been released, (effective and mandatory November 1 2025) aligning feed to farm reporting data with ASC Farm Standard ...Asc Feed Standard · Value Chain Recognition · Learn More
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ASC Feed Standard - BioMar
The ASC Feed Standard outlines criteria for responsible aquafeed production, applicable to entire facilities, even if they also produce livestock feeds.
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Aquaculture policy - European Commission - Oceans and fisheries
In April 2024, the Commission published two documents to help EU countries promote sustainable aquaculture growth. Regulatory and administrative framework for ...Objectives · Actions · Rules · Collaboration
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Commission releases recommendations and good practices for ...
Dec 17, 2024 · The European Commission has published three new staff working documents to promote sustainable aquaculture in the European Union.
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2023 Census of Aquaculture Now Available!
In 2023, there were 3,453 aquaculture farms with sales in the United States, up 18% from 2018. ... Sales of food fish was $819.6 million, an increase of 14% from ...Missing: statistics | Show results with:statistics
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Global warming potential (GWP) results for 1 kg of ASC harvest ...
The key results showed that the global warming potential (GWP) was equivalent to 4.98 kg CO2, which is lower than the GWPs of metals, such as gold and silver, ...
[232]
The Current Challenges of Sustainable Aquaculture in the Asia ...
Aug 6, 2025 · To maintain sustainable aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific area, issues such as infections, antibiotic resistance, the effects of climate change, food safety, and ...
[233]
Climate-smart aquaculture: Innovations and challenges in mitigating ...
Aug 25, 2025 · This review examines the integration of climate-smart aquaculture (CSAq) as a strategy to enhance the resilience and sustainability of ...
[234]
https://asc-aqua.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ASC-SDG-Report-Summary-Report-2022.pdf
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OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2025-2034
Jul 15, 2025 · Global agricultural and fish production is expected to increase by 14% over the next decade, mainly enabled by productivity improvements, ...
[236]
[PDF] 8 Fish - FAO Knowledge Repository
Global fish production, encompassing both capture fisheries and aquaculture, is anticipated to rise from 185 Mt during the base period to 206 Mt by 2033.
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Trend of Aquaculture 2025: Growth & Innovation - Accio.ai
Oct 10, 2025 · By 2034, aquaculture is projected to account for 56% of total fisheries and aquaculture production, up from 52% in the base period, making it ...<|separator|>
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Harnessing the Waters: Sustainable Aquaculture - World Bank
Jun 24, 2025 · Demand continues to rise as wild fisheries reach maximum yield. Aquaculture is shifting from a niche to a mainstream investment strategy, ...
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The contribution of fisheries and aquaculture to the global protein ...
While aquaculture produced a greater tonnage of aquatic animals, capture fisheries resulted in 7,135 Kt crude protein while aquaculture yielded 6,815 Kt.
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Climate Change Effects on Aquaculture Production - Frontiers
The rise in sea level may destroy several coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves and salt marshes, which are considered crucial for maintaining wild fish stocks, ...
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[PDF] Expanding mariculture farther offshore: technical , environmental ...
Climate change may also affect aquaculture production at lower latitudes, as the production season may be prolonged due to higher water temperatures during ...<|separator|>
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[PDF] sustainability considerations for us open ocean aquaculture
A pilot plant launched in. Lisbon in late 2023 by MicroHarvest is an example of bacterial aquaculture feed innovation. The plant will produce an aquaculture ...Missing: post- | Show results with:post-
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Future scenarios of fish supply and demand for food and nutrition ...
Apr 15, 2023 · While capture fisheries production is likely to expand at 1.4% per year between 2020 and 2040, aquaculture production is projected to increase ...
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Aquaculture Market Size to Reach USD 513.31 Billion by 2034
Sep 29, 2025 · The global aquaculture market size is calculated at USD 326.66 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach around USD 513.31 billion by 2034, ...