Aquaculture

Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms like fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants in artificial systems, coastal and inland waters. Aquaculture involves the intervention in the rearing process to enhance production. In contrast to capture fisheries, the stock being cultivated is under individual or corporate ownership. The global demand for fish and seafood has been increasing rapidly throughout the last decade. Capture fisheries production, however, continuous to remain stable. Aquaculture is thus getting more and more important as substantial increases in global fish production can only be achieved by farming. At present, more than 50% of fish and seafood for human consumption are derived from aquaculture. Indeed, the expansion of aquaculture gave rise to several questions, e.g. in the fields of technology, ecology as well as in socioeconomics. With our research, we want to contribute in solving these questions making aquaculture sustainable.