Raising fish under controlled conditions in
tanks and ponds, sometimes in offshore pens.
It has been practised for centuries in the
Far East, where Japan alone produces some
100,000 tonnes of fish a year. In the 1980s
one-tenth of the world's consumption of fish
was farmed, notably trout, Atlantic salmon,
turbot, eel, mussels, and oysters. The 300
trout farms in Britain produce over 9,000
tonnes per year, and account for 90% of home
consumption. Trout and salmon worth 00
million were farmed in the UK 1988, compared
to 400 million worth of conventionally
trawled fish. Endemic infections are a
problem, and the Ministry of Agriculture
spent more than million on antibiotics in
1989, trying to control farmed-fish diseases.