Aquaculture is a fast-growing industry in the ocean economy and is anticipated to increasingly fill the incremental growth in demand for fish over the coming decades, eventually becoming a greater source of fish than capture fisheries. Challenges include identifying suitable aquaculture sites; dealing with competing uses; developing species able to thrive in a diversity of conditions; developing new, low-cost aquaculture feeds; dealing with aquaculture-generated waste; and controlling disease.
While most aquaculture is focused on raising fish for food and meal, an increasingly important area will be the cultivation of aquatic species—both animals and plants—as sources of new pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and other important biological materials. Coastal areas have tremendous potential for aquaculture of numerous species through the use of appropriate technologies.
The subsectors under Aquaculture are: