Water Resources

Aquaculture is the cultivation and farming of freshwater and saltwater organisms under controlled conditions. The aquaculture industry has undergone massive growth in the last 40 years with several hundred different fish species and aquatic plant life now being farmed all over the world. With so many different farming techniques being used everywhere, many aquaculture training schools have been set up to teach students the methods and approaches that they need to know for farming fish and under water plant life.

Aquaculture has been used in some parts of the world for a very long time. In China there are records of carp being farmed since about 2500 BC, and the Hawaiian and Japanese people have also had a history associated with aquaculture. In Europe aquaculture became popular during the middle ages and in America the first fish hatchery was opened in 1866. As an entire industry though, aquaculture is a recent phenomena, especially when contrasted to agriculture which has been such a prominent force in the histories of most nations.

Declines in wild fish stock first began to be noticed in the 1960′s and this is when the current aquaculture industry really began to expand. Aquaculture contributes nearly one third of all global fish supplies and this number will probably only increase in the future. This has meant that an entire industry has had to be developed in order to meet this huge demand, with many people being trained and employed in order to make the aquaculture industry viable.

There are many different types of aquaculture each with specific training and education requirements. While there are some similarities between the different specialisations, normally an aquaculture student will have to study many different areas independently. Generally aquaculture can be split up into two fields with fish farming being the principle form and most other methods falling under the field of mariculture. Mariculture is a specialised branch of aquaculture that is involved in the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other products. The cultivation of different organisms and the production of specific products will of course also require different training and skills to be learnt by a student.

There are many particular skills that need to be studied in order to work successfully in the field of aquaculture. Water quality management strategies and general water chemistry may be one area that is studied at aquaculture training school. Another area may include construction techniques and management of aquaculture sites and systems. While both of these areas of study may be non specific to any particular species, there are also many other sub strands of aquaculture training that will provide in depth study of the life cycles and production strategies of particular organisms. The other end of this training schedule may require a student to be familiar with the niche marketing strategies and particular business plans that an aquaculture business will need to implement to be successful. The aquaculture industry offers a lot of variation and specialised training opportunities for a student to get involved in.