WATER SCIENCE IN AQUACULTURAL EDUCATION

In traditional agricultural education at the university level, students are required to take a basic soil science class, and in some agricultural curricula, additional classes such as soil fertility, soil chemistry, and soil microbiology are required. This, of course, is because crop plants grow in soil. Many aquaculture students complete M.S. and Ph.D. programs without taking so much as a basic water science class. This is unfortunate, because aquaculture students need an in-depth understanding of the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of water - the milieu for aquaculture production - as badly as traditional agricultural students need to know about the properties of soils in which crops grow. Aquaculture students typically take a variety of courses in which they learn a lot of terms and definitions related to water science. They also are taught the optimum ranges of water quality variables for fish, shrimp, and other aquatic animals. However, many aquaculture graduates have little understanding of the complex relationships among water quality variables and the effects of these variables on aquatic animals and aquacultural production. I will provide some opinions and conclusions that I have reached while teaching water science and water quality management to aquaculture students for the past 47 years.