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Reservoir ranched paddlefish. |
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Geographic Range: South, Midwest and
North Central regions of the United States. Temperate climates globally.
Introduction
Aquaculture is the farming and caring of aquatic organisms including
fish, mollusks, crustaceans and aquatic plants under individual
or corporate ownership. Aquaculture has been almost entirely responsible
for the expansion of available food fish since 1988, with production
doubling in inland waters over the last decade. However, the majority
of the expansion in aquaculture production is from Asian countries,
largely China.
Aquaculture in the United States ranks 11th in the world in terms
of total production and value. As a result, the United States imports
a majority of its aquatic foods, which contributes to our nation's
trade deficit as well as an uncertainty of supplies and product
quality (1). Further, aquaculture
in the United States is expected to face strong competition from
both the continued growth of imports of aquacultural products globally
and from domestic poultry and livestock industries (1).
Species diversification, modernization of traditional production
systems, and the development of innovative production methods should
be practiced to increase efficient use of water resources and lower
production costs (2).
Traditional aquacultural species in pond culture are expensive because
of the high costs for land, pond construction and feed. To compete,
the U.S. must produce high-value species in production systems that
use existing water more efficiently, minimize waste of nutrients,
maximize the use of natural foods derived from solar energy (i.e.
photosynthesis), enhance water quality, and increase fish productivity
of existing waters (3). The purpose
of this fact sheet is to describe two production systems, polyculture
and reservoir ranching, that show promise of becoming popular methods
for increasing fish production and profits in inland waters compared
to a traditional monoculture system. We also examine the usefulness
of paddlefish as a high-value, emerging species that grows well
in polyculture with channel catfish or in reservoir ranching.
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