WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEPTEMBER 2013 21 than 50 m. The cages have a capacity of 1000 tons each and are operated by a crew of less than 10 people. High automation and thorough specialization are keys to success in this case. Another success story is penaeid shrimp (Fig. 7). Following very profitable decades in the 1970s and 1980s, shrimp aquaculture experienced a very rough decade in the 1990s with severe disease problems caused by poor management practices and uncontrolled transfers of contaminated broodstock or postlarvae. The introduction of domesticated and SPF white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei enabled more predictable growth of the industry. Pangasius farming in the Mekong delta in Vietnam will enter history books as a typical example of business aquaculture adopted by a developing country (Fig. 8). Once maturation and hatchery practices were mastered, farming in floating cages and later in ponds expanded at a phenomenal rate. New markets, especially in Europe, were eager to introduce pangasius fillets as a cheap substitute for the more expensive generic whitefish from classic fisheries. It is a success story indeed, but one under serious threat because of biosecurity issues and limited attention to sustainability matters. Another example of business aquaculture, albeit at a very local level, is the Chinese mitten crab industry (Fig. 9). Following the catastrophe with the white spot syndrome virus disease in the coastal shrimp farming sector in the early 1990s in China, a reconversion to mitten crab seed production really paid off. Annual production output, currently at 700,000 mt, continues to increase as local markets are further expanded and new farming practices, such as the polyculture of mitten crab in rice paddies, are successfully explored, even far inland in western China. Outside Asia we often forget the success of mollusk farming, with more than 14 million mt annually, and seaweed production, delivering 16 million mt annually. These two latter forms of aquaculture deserve much more attention in the future. Expectations for Future Aquaculture What are the expectations for future aquaculture? What are the challenges and threats we face? Are there any opportunities? As world population continues to grow and consumers become increasingly convinced of the health benefits of eating seafood, market demands for aquatic products will further expand in the years to come. Fisheries are stagnating and might even level off, so aquaculture will have to grow even faster. Fresh water will become increasingly scarce in the decades ahead and we should turn more towards the oceans for a sustainable source of our seafood. Over the past three decades there has been a progressive increase in the contribution of aquaculture (CONTINUED ON PAGE 20) TOP, FIGURE 7. World shrimp production by species (courtesy Rohana Subasinghe, FAO-Rome, 2013). MIDDLE, FIGURE 8. Pangasius catfish farming in Vietnam (courtesy Nguyen Huu Dzung, VASEP-Hanoi, 2010). BOTTOM, FIGURE 9. Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) farming in rice paddies in China (courtesy Yong-Xu Cheng, Shanghai Fisheries University, 2010).
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