Aquaculture

Companies in this industry raise fish, shellfish, other aquatic animals, or aquatic plants. No major companies dominate the industry.

The global production of aquatic animals is expected to reach about 205 million tons in 2032, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Currently, Asian countries accounted for 70% of the total fisheries and aquaculture production of aquatic animals, followed by Europe, Latin America, and Caribbean.

The US aquaculture industry includes about 3,500 farms with combined annual revenue of about $2 billion.

Fishing in natural aquatic habitats is covered in the Commercial Fishing profile. Processing of both farmed and wild-caught fish is covered in the Seafood Processing profile.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven primarily by trends in fish consumption. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations and protecting fish stock from death and disease. Large companies have advantages in vertically integrating operations from breeding to processing and packaging. Small farms, typically those that are family-owned, can compete effectively by specializing in unusual and high-end products or offering onsite fishing.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Key global products include carp, salmon, trout, tuna, shrimp, and mollusks such as squid, clams, and oysters. Major US products include catfish; mollusks, such as clams and oysters; and crawfish. Freshwater aquaculture products include tilapia, catfish, and carp, according to IMARC Group. Some farms specialize in fee-fishing, allowing fishing enthusiasts to catch and pay for pond-caught fish.

Farm-raised catfish are grown in open freshwater production systems, typically earthen ponds fed by groundwater. Salmon are hatched in fresh water and transferred to saltwater pens for final grow-out. Mollusk aquaculture is carried out in coastal waters spread over prepared, shallow coastal water beds (bottom culture) or in production systems bound to ropes and suspended from rafts or floats (off-bottom culture).

In a typical aquaculture farm, brooding fish (brood stock) spawn in open ponds. Fertilized eggs are collected and moved to a hatchery. Eggs hatch within a week of incubation at temperatures around 80 degrees. Small fish (fry) are transferred to a nursery pond and mature into small fingerlings, which are fed floating food pellets and either sold or transferred to a grow-out pond once they weigh 40 to 80 pounds per thousand fish.

At the grow-out pond, fingerlings are fed daily, maturing into stocker fish weighing anywhere from 60 to 750 pounds per thousand fish. At harvest, fish are transferred to an on- or off-site processing and packaging facility. Catfish are food size at one to two pounds live weight, trout at one pound live weight, and salmon at eight to 10 pounds.

It takes 18 to 36 months for an egg to develop into a food size fish. Harvest times depend on temperature, breeding efficiency, and the density of fish stocks in a fingerling and food size production pond.

Major aquaculture inputs include water, soybean and fish meal, chemicals to balance pH, oxygen, and carbon dioxide levels; medications, such as antibiotics, and electricity to heat ponds. Catfish require around two pounds of feed to produce one pound of live-weight fish. It can take as much as five pounds of wild fish to produce one pound of farm-raised salmon. Show more