intriguing, the concept is consistent with the goals of Marine Spatial Planning and
ecosystem based management, and therefore worthy of pursuit.
1.1 Aquaculture—A Historical Overview
The transition on land from hunting to agriculture took thousands of years. In the
oceans, the transition from capture fishing to modern aquaculture production happened in just two human generations. As late as 1965, a major review did not pay
much attention to the potential of aquaculture. Christy and Scott (1965) considered
marine farming only in passing for oysters and other mollusks and predicted that
increasing use of fresh and brackish ponds in low-income countries might be a
means to increase local protein output. By 2009, however, the world’s human
population consumed more cultured fish than was caught in the wild. Indeed,
technological progress has been so rapid that the number of species domesticated
for aquaculture now exceeds the number of species domesticated on land (Duarte
et al. 2007). Monoculture currently dominates production and a few species, carps,
shrimp, prawns, salmon and trout, make up half of total production (Asche et al.
2008). We have long since lost sight of the implications and consequences of
culturing the land—but a similar process is now taking place at sea and we hardly
notice it. As this is a change similar to the agricultural revolution on land which by
archaeologists was identified as the “Neolithic Revolution”, in all of these senses
we are living through a ‘Neolithic’ revolution of the oceans.
The fact that aquaculture, for all practical concerns, is a very recent phenomenon
may explain many of its characteristics. The industry has experienced almost
exponential growth while it has suffered heavily from the spread of diseases in
monoculture farms and has been severely impacted and restructured as a result of
boom-and-bust growth, particularly around 1990. What was to the first generation
of aquaculture entrepreneurs a business of trial-and-error and reliance on the family
and local work force is now a globalized corporate enterprise. Science and public
management largely saw their roles in the early period as ones of support and
encouragement but have now developed agendas of inquiry and management.
Major problems such as feed and access to marine space loom large as future threats
to the industry. All of these characteristics identify aquaculture as an industry in an
early rather than mature phase of growth.
Aquaculture comprises both fresh and brackish water production as well as
marine aquaculture (sometimes called mariculture). There is no clear-cut dividing
line between working in the different environments, partly because some of the
major cultured finfish such as salmon are anadromous, and partly because of
learning and innovation across the sectors. Fresh and brackish water aquaculture are
characterised by relatively small-scale operations while marine aquaculture is now
dominated by larger scale operations. Since the 1980s, marine aquaculture has
contributed between 50 and 60% of global traded production volume with a
1 Introduction: New Approaches to Sustainable Offshore …
3
ecosystem based management, and therefore worthy of pursuit.
1.1 Aquaculture—A Historical Overview
The transition on land from hunting to agriculture took thousands of years. In the
oceans, the transition from capture fishing to modern aquaculture production happened in just two human generations. As late as 1965, a major review did not pay
much attention to the potential of aquaculture. Christy and Scott (1965) considered
marine farming only in passing for oysters and other mollusks and predicted that
increasing use of fresh and brackish ponds in low-income countries might be a
means to increase local protein output. By 2009, however, the world’s human
population consumed more cultured fish than was caught in the wild. Indeed,
technological progress has been so rapid that the number of species domesticated
for aquaculture now exceeds the number of species domesticated on land (Duarte
et al. 2007). Monoculture currently dominates production and a few species, carps,
shrimp, prawns, salmon and trout, make up half of total production (Asche et al.
2008). We have long since lost sight of the implications and consequences of
culturing the land—but a similar process is now taking place at sea and we hardly
notice it. As this is a change similar to the agricultural revolution on land which by
archaeologists was identified as the “Neolithic Revolution”, in all of these senses
we are living through a ‘Neolithic’ revolution of the oceans.
The fact that aquaculture, for all practical concerns, is a very recent phenomenon
may explain many of its characteristics. The industry has experienced almost
exponential growth while it has suffered heavily from the spread of diseases in
monoculture farms and has been severely impacted and restructured as a result of
boom-and-bust growth, particularly around 1990. What was to the first generation
of aquaculture entrepreneurs a business of trial-and-error and reliance on the family
and local work force is now a globalized corporate enterprise. Science and public
management largely saw their roles in the early period as ones of support and
encouragement but have now developed agendas of inquiry and management.
Major problems such as feed and access to marine space loom large as future threats
to the industry. All of these characteristics identify aquaculture as an industry in an
early rather than mature phase of growth.
Aquaculture comprises both fresh and brackish water production as well as
marine aquaculture (sometimes called mariculture). There is no clear-cut dividing
line between working in the different environments, partly because some of the
major cultured finfish such as salmon are anadromous, and partly because of
learning and innovation across the sectors. Fresh and brackish water aquaculture are
characterised by relatively small-scale operations while marine aquaculture is now
dominated by larger scale operations. Since the 1980s, marine aquaculture has
contributed between 50 and 60% of global traded production volume with a
1 Introduction: New Approaches to Sustainable Offshore …
3