TOPIC 1 - HISTORY OF AQUACULTURE AND AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION STATUS

HISTORY OF AQUACULTURE

In the historical past, aquaculture remained multilocational and isolated, each location having evolved its own pattern, until in recent times, when with the development of fast means of communication and travel bridging distances in progressively decreasing time, species are being cultured adopting a measure of standardised practices and sites when they are most suited.

The ‘Art’ of aquaculture is very old. The evidence that Egyptians were probably the first in the world to culture fish as far back as 2500 B.C. come from pictorial engravings of an ancient Egyptian tomb showing tilapia being fished out from an artificial pond. The Romans are believed to have reared fish in circular ponds divided into breeding areas. Culture of Chinese carps was side spread in China in 2000 B.C. writings in India made in 300 B.C. suggest means of rendering fish poisonous in the Indian sub-continent in times of war. This implies that fish culture prevailed in some Indian reservoirs. Some historical documents compiled in 1127 A.D. describe methods of fattening fish in ponds in India. Culture of Gangetic carps in Bengal in the Indian Sub-continent is of historical origin.

The Chinese carried with them their traditional knowledge of carp culture to the countries they emigrated like Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam etc. In the Philippines, fish culture has been done in brackish water ponds for centuries. Eel culture in Japan is also very old.

In Central and occidental Europe, common carp culture developed along with monasteries in the middle ages. Later, with the development of pond fertilization and artificial feeding, carp culture got a new lease of life especially in Central and Oriental Europe. Simultaneously in Europe, salmonid culture began, fillip having been provided by salmon breeding and rearing techniques which were developed by them. Pollution in the aftermath of industrialisation, and hydro-electric development, led to restocking of open waters in Europe. This gave a new texture to development of aquaculture in Europe.

In North America, fish culture has developed from the turn of the century emphasis having been laid on trout for stocking in cold water and black bass in warm waters. Except for the referred culture of tilapia in Egypt, the origin of fish culture in Africa is recent. It was only at the end of II world war that efforts were made to introduce and develop fish cultivation. The prize species in Africa is tilapia, which, in recent years, has been extensively transplanted into many warm countries almost round the equator. Tilapia has been referred to as the ‘wonder fish’ of Africa and several attempts to popularise tilapia culture in various African countries did not achieve so much success as expected. In some countries mixed culture of tilapia and catfish (Clarias gariepinus) have achieved some success lately; aquaculture prospects and priorities for Africa are now subject to a fresh scrutiny in attempts to make it a successful venture, especially in view of its role in rural development.

Fish culture is only beginning in Latin America and most of the Middle-East. In Israel it has made phenomenal progress. Since World War II, four factors have contributed to rapid development of aquaculture. These are:

1.  Facilities of fish transport by modern forms of communication bridging distances by quick  transport.
2. Use of polythene bags and fish transported therein under oxygen with addition, when necessary, of transquilizer to water.
3. Artificial propagation of farmed fish (e.g. by hypophysation) and its application to difficult-to-breed fish (e.g. Chinese and Indian carps) and development of hatching techniques to rear eggs and larvae.
4. Availability of feed concentrates and their distribution in pellet form.

The fish which have figured most in inter-regional transplantation are rainbow trout, carp, certain species of tilapia (T. mossambica and T. nilotica) and Chinese carps (Ctenopharyngodon idella and Hypophthalmichthys mollitrix). Fish culture using some standard methods has in recent years got itself extended to many parts of the world. Fish breeding, artificial fertilization and pellet feeding, which at one time were applied to selected species, are now made applicable to many cultured species and, as time advances, more and more species are falling in line, though details vary. With further research in aquaculture, especially on production of fish seed and fish feed technologies, aquaculture in heading towards a quantum jump in years to come.

GLOBAL AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION STATUS 

Aquaculture is estimated to contribute 10.21 million tons in fish production in 1983. Group-wise breakdown of the contribution of aquaculture is:

Finfish	4.45 million tons
Mollusc	3.25 million tons
Crustaceans	0.12 million tons
Sea Weeds	2.39 million tons
Total	10.21 million tons

Region-wise aquaculture production (million tons) follows the following pattern:

Asia	8.41
Africa	0.05
Latin America	0.22
Europe	1.22
North America	0.31
Total	10.21

ASEAN AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION STATUS 

Figure 1: ASEAN aquaculture production in 2008. Land areas are adjusted proportionally to reflect production volumes.

ASEAN is globally an important aquaculture region, with ASEAN members of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam together producing 11.3 million tons, around 17 per cent of the world total. Aquaculture is a significant part of the economy, food supply and rural livelihoods within ASEAN. Indonesia dominates the aquaculture production of the ASEAN region with a yearly production of 3.85 million tons, followed by Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand with 2.50, 2.41 and 1.37 million tons respectively (see Fig 1).

Figure 2: Asean production of aquaculture species groups (tons) in ASEAN countries in 2008. Seaweed constitutes the largest group, followed by catfish, shrimp/ prawn and carp.

Graph 1: Reported aquaculture production in Malaysia (from 1950)
(FAO Fishery Statistic)

In 1990, production from aquaculture was 52 302 tons. By 1994, production had doubled to 114 114 tons. In 2003, aquaculture production was at 194 139 tons at a value of USD 308 million - about 20 percent of the total value of the fisheries production in Malaysia.

Brackish water species accounted for more than 70 percent of the total aquaculture production in terms of value and quantity. Of these, blood cockles recorded the highest production, followed by marine shrimp and other freshwater species, such as tilapia, carps and catfish, as well as marine fish. Cockles account for almost 50 percent of the total brackish water aquaculture production, and about 37 percent of the annual aquaculture production.

However, marine shrimp accounted for the highest value of production, with about 65 percent of the total value of brackish water aquaculture production, and 52 percent of the total value of aquaculture production in 2003. Marine and brackish water aquaculture production recorded an increase of more than 20 percent in comparison to production in 2002. Freshwater aquaculture production, however, only recorded an increase of about 7 percent in comparison with production in 2002.