Aquaculture is defined as the set of activities that are aimed at the production, growth or development and marketing of aquatic organisms, animals or plants, freshwater, brackish or salty
Aquaculture is the culture of aquatic organisms, including fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants.
Aquaculture is the activity that allows production through the cultivation of aquatic organisms (animals and plants). The most cultivated organisms of the vegetable kingdom in the world, belong to the group of large marine algae (green, red and brown); although they can also be commercial cultures of microalgae, such as Spirulina or Chlorella or others, which are grown as food for the first stages of life of molluscs and marine fish. However, most aquaculture ventures are based on aquatic animal cultures and can therefore be the so-called invertebrates (they lack an internal skeleton) or vertebrates (they have an internal skeleton).
IMPORTANCE OF AQUACULTURE
The importance of the fishing activity lies in the fact that the productive processes, in particular the capture and cultivation, are carried out in community form. Hence, its ability to generate food, employment and foreign exchange that contribute to meet the needs of society. As a result of the fishing dynamics observed in recent years, the country has maintained a significant importance in world production, especially in tilapia, shark and shark and molluscs.
To develop the aquaculture of any of the potential organisms with known technology, it is necessary to have optimal or best temperatures, for the selected species (warm, warm or cold), the best sites, the best water supply in sufficient flow and quality physics and chemistry, which will constitute the determining parameters for the proposed crop. To these important factors must be added the specific ones (characteristic of each particular species). An important factor in culture is, for example, nutrition, for growth response and disease prevention. In some world cultivated species, nutritional requirements are known, but in many others, they are unknown and food rations, in general, are manufactured empirically. In the special case of autochthonous species, more research support would be needed to achieve their production.
The main factors to take into account when you want to proceed with the cultivation and production of a specific species, are the following in order of importance:
· Presence and demand in the market
· Fast growth
· Species of known reproduction
· Species of good reproduction and maturation after commercialization size
· Species of easy or relatively easy handling
· Species that accept fast food balanced ration, in Captivity,
· Species resistant to diseases
· Species that support a high crop density
Aquaculture activities
In a broad sense, aquaculture activities would be those "aimed at increasing the production of any exploitation of aquatic living resources through the application of more or less complex techniques.
The activities of aquaculture are listed below:
· Passive or active recruitment of offspring,
· Natural, artificial, controlled or induced reproduction to obtain offspring,
· Production of animals and plants through pre-growing and fattening phases,
· Release of eggs, larvae and juveniles or adults,
· Improvement of habitats and creation of biotopes or artificial structures,
· Specific or complementary nutrition,
· Cultivation of organisms to obtain products of industrial interest,
· Control of parasites, pathological or genetic,
· Control of water quality and management of hydrological functioning,
· Population management,
· Design and construction of specific facilities,
· Diversification of products of aquatic origin,
· Improvement of marketing
FUNCTIONS OF AQUACULTURE
Aquaculture has an extraordinarily broad field of action, since it includes a great diversity of activities, covers multiple scientific-technical disciplines and fulfills different functions.
The main function of aquaculture is the production of food for human consumption while providing employment and economic development in regions with availability of aquaculture, continental or marine resources.
The socio-economic purposes of aquaculture can be summarized in these points:
· Produce abundant quantities of food to meet the present and future needs of humanity
· Provide alternative or complementary work in the fishing sector and other related activities, especially in fishing regions in crisis or in developing countries Continue to provide consumer goods and consumption requested by developed countries (quality fisheries products, sport fishing , ornamental trade, products of industrial interest, etc.)
· Ensure sustainable development by avoiding fishing and environmental overpressure on aquatic resources and even with the improvement of biotopes and aquatic populations
· Help with the implementation of new sectors and activities (marine biotechnologies, aquatic resource management, development of environmental technologies).
TYPOLOGIES OF AQUACULTURE
Below are the typologies of aquaculture:
Species
• The crops that have reached the most developed are: bivalve molluscs, crustaceans, fish and algae
• Depending on the species, it is known with specific terminologies:
Mitiliculture (Mollusc culture)
Pisciculture (Fish culture)
Shrimp farming
Among others...
Socioeconomic purpose
• production aquaculture
• Survival aquaculture: for human consumption, at low cost,
• industrial aquaculture: production of aquatic organisms in a way that is economically profitable
• conservation or repopulation aquaculture
• support aquaculture
Crop conditions
They can be classified according to the following criteria:
to. According to culture medium
• Saltwater crops (marine aquaculture, mariculture or marine cultures)
• Cultures of freshwater species (continental aquaculture)
b. According to the phases included:
• Comprehensive aquaculture
• Partial aquaculture
• Semi-natural or semi-crop aquaculture
b. According to the technological grade and the cultivation density
• Extensive
• Semi intensive
• Intensive
•Super Intensive
In general, the distinction between these types of aquaculture is often not clearly delineated.
c. According to the number of species
• Monocultures: Only one species is used throughout the crop.
• Polycultures: Several species are cultivated, so that there are no competition or incompatibility phenomena, with the purpose of making better use of space and food.
• Integrated crops: it is based on the direct use of the manure of other animals such as ducks or pigs for the production of plankton (phyto plankton) that serves as food for the fish.
and. According to the flow of water systems open closed systems: recycling of water with specific filters
F. According to the location of the crop
• Ground crops: ponds, intensive tank installations, ...
• Intertidal or coastal crops: plots, pens, nurseries on the shore, ...
• Water crops: floating or submerged in lakes, marshes, seas, oceans
CULTIVATION SYSTEMS
Aquaculture is practiced in different ways, depending on the densities of animals that are managed and the magnitude of the expected yield. Cultivation involves the intervention of man in the breeding process to increase production, in operations such as planting, feeding, protection of predators, etc. The activity of the crop also presupposes that the individuals or associations that exercise it are owners of the population under cultivation, implying this definition for statistical purposes that: "a certain production of aquatic organisms constitutes a contribution to aquaculture when these are collected by individuals or associations that have been owners during the breeding period "and that" those aquatic organisms that can be publicly exploited as a common property resource, with or without the need for appropriate licenses, are considered as fishery products "(FAO).
The crops according to the selected species are developed in different systems, depending on the demand of the product in the market, the kind of species in question, the place where it is wanted to develop, etc.
In general, four main farming systems are mentioned in aquaculture. In intimate relationship with the density of sowing used (number of live animals per hectare or per cubic meter).
Aquaculture as the years go by is growing exponentially and is an activity that assures us a food sustainability for the future.
I hope you have enjoyed this information of these wonderful practices.