Importance of aquaculture

Definition:- Aquaculture is the farming of fish, crustaceans, molluscs, aquatic plants and other aquatic organisms. It is also known as aquafarming. Although many people think the aquaculture is only related to the culturing of fishes, but this is not true, all aquaculture is more than the cultivation of fishes, aquaculture includes cultivation of all the aquatic species, i.e, aquatic plants and other aquatic organisms.

Fisheries department (ICAR)

Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing segment  of agriculture. Aquaculture industries are growing very fast and producing and culturing all type of species i.e., either marine species or fresh water species. The progress of these industries in modern era shows the fast rapid growth of aquaculture. In agricultural dominated country like Indian subcontinents along with other agriculture segments aquaculture is mostly focused, which is very important branch of agriculture and can not be left untouched if you want to develop the agriculture of the particular area. Here we will discuss about types of aquaculture, types of aquaculture and the importance of aquaculture along with disadvantage of aquaculture. After reading this article you will have complete knowledge about aquaculture.

Types of aquaculture

On the basis of aquatic species cultured the aquaculture is of following types:-

1.  Marine aquaculture - Marine aquaculture is also known ad mericulture.In marine aquaculture marine species are cultured. Th production of this aquaculture is basically in open oceans, sea water, and the water body which is having marine water. As the oceans and sea water is marine in nature that's why this type of aqaculture is known as marine aquaculture. Generally aquatic organisms like fishes are cultured in marine aquaculture which is responsible for such a growth of aquaculture in today's world.

2.- Freshwater aquaculture-  Fresh water aquacultire is the culturing of freshwater species. Fresh water species are generally those species which are found in fresh water bodies such as lake or pond. Some species of fishes such as mahasheer is a common example of fresh water aquaculture.

Importance of aquaculture

There are several importance of aqaculture for human beings which lead to a huge growth of aquaculture because aquaculture is  now one of the important aspect of agriculture. Some of the major importance of aquaculture are explained below:-

1. Fulfils human demands-  Aquaculture fullfils the human demand of aquatic species. It ensures the continuity of aquatic species especially for human consumption. Selling the aquatic species such as fihes is the only source of income for some part of the population . Hence fulfilling human demands is an important aspect of aquaculture and it also determines the survival for some people like fisherman.

2.  Increases food production- Aquaculture increases the food production. As we know the increasing population is huge threat of todays generation. Increasing population may lead to food shortage here it is important that the food production should maintained adequately, here comes the importance of aquaculture which increases the food production, some species of aquaculture are consumed by human beings such as fishes which  ultimately lead to increased food production.

3.  More buisness oppurtunities- Aquaculture brings mire buissness ideas for those people who are interested in farm culturing or farm buissness. Culturing fishes and selling them in market after breeding is a great example of buisness oppurtunty from aquaculture.

4. National export increased-  Large amont of fishes and other species cultured inside the nation by farees are furter exported to foreign nations which helps in increasing the GDP of the nation therefore we say that agriculture is backbone of India's economy as aquaculture is fastest growing segment of agriculture and conteibute a lot in increasing the economy of the nation.

5. Promoting employment- Aquaculture provides employment to millions of people who are involved in aquaculture. People like fisherman and other workers involved agriculture industries are employed through aquaculture. Fisheries department of government provides employment to a number of government workers.

Disadvantage of aquaculture

1- Pollution - Aquaculture is also responsible for increasing water pollution. People use irrelevant techniques to catch the species, such as use of bleaching powder in water to kill the fishes pollutes the water and  throwing the killed organism in open atmosphere also a source of pollution So aquaculture sometimes lead to pollution.

2- Habitat destruction- When fisherman kills the fishes and  other aquatic species either fresh water or marine, this lead to destruction of natural habitat of the aquatic species. This destruction also affect the ecosystem and life cycle.

3. Disease transfer- Consuming unhealthy or disease fishes may spread the disease to consumers either humans or  animals. This sometimes caused a huge disease in population which lead to a great threat in population and keep spreading even from person to person.

4. Workers safety- Workers safety should be foremost during culturing aquaculture . There are risks involved during some activities which may affect workers, so workers should be secure during aquaculture and they should not let to go their life in risk.

These were the importance of aquaculture along with their demerits. Although it is beneficial to some extents but sometimes it is hazardous too.  Some example of aquaculture is raising cat fish in fresh water pond and fish farming is another example of aquaculture.