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Mariculture

As the Spanish entered the capital city of Tenochtitlan they were astounded at the many marvels of the city but one of the things that most caught the eyes of the foreigners was the extensive plant growth on the lake surrounding the city. These images were describe the among the first recorded descriptions of large scale mariculture. Mariculture, or aquaculture, refers to the rearing of the aquatic organisms under controlled or semicontrolled conditions. Although there is a simple difference between the two, aquaculture generally refers to the exploitation of freshwater fish and mariculture more generally refers to the culture and farming of marine organisms. Simply put mariculture is underwater agriculture. There are many possibilities for the realm of mariculture, it has the potential to be a great help in the production of the food supply in the world.

Mariculture is not a new development in mankinds history but it is a largely ignored form of food production. In a broad sense mariculture includes the rearing of tropical fishes, the production of minnows, koi, and goldfish; the culture of sport fishes for stocking into farm ponds, streams, reservoirs, and even the ocean; production of animals for augmenting commercial marine fisheries; and the growth of aquatic plants. Mariculture is a myriad of possibilities that involve organisms and the seas.

The history of mariculture can be traced back way into the past, the Greeks and Romans were known to have fattened fish in ponds and Egyptian carvings suggest that the Egyptians may have practiced it as well. So we know that the potential for the exploitation has been there for a very long time. Why then has this type of food procurement not been used more extensively? There can be a few good reasons for this such as the availability of technologies, the difficulty of harvesting the seas, and the knowledge of the workings of the sea in...