Aquaculture is the production of aquatic plants and animals in a captive environment, sharing much similarities with terrestrial agriculture. Aquaculture entails many different species ranging from salmon and shrimp to clams and oysters. While many of the issues with aquaculture are equally applicable to both fresh and salt water, marine aquaculture is especially harmful to the vulnerable ecosystems.

 

Video Source: (NOAA)

 

How much is produced?

Every year the United States aquaculture industry produces 21% of the total seafood consumed on all of the coast. In 2017 this industry produced 1.5 billion dollars for the US economy.

 

 

Why is Aquaculture Important?

As the global population continues to rise a compact, efficient, and scalable source of protein is becoming more important to provide for the increasing demand. Aquaculture requires much less space than terrestrial agriculture to produce protein. Because of this, there has been a substantial increase in aquaculture production over the past several decades.