Aquaculture

Study freshwater fish and crayfish farming.

• Little or expansive
• Production for profit or sustainability Farming
• Study whenever you want and at your own speed.

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction To Aquaculture
   • Scope and nature of freshwater aquaculture
   • Resources, references, organisations around the world
   • Equipment and material suppliers
2. Production Systems – EP and IP
   • Open, semi closed and closed systems
   • Extensive production
   • Intensive production
   • Water containment: earth, concrete, wood, brick, stone, fibre-glass, liners, etc
   • Dams and water storage: siting, site
3. What Species To Farm
   • Selection criteria
   • Climate
   • Water resources
   • Finance
   • Scale of operation
   • Other resources: manpower, knowledge, support services, etc.
   • Market demand and access
   • Ecological considerations
   • Risk considerations
   • Review of different fish: we review many fish and other species suited to farming in Australia, the UK and other countries), including:
   • Trout
   • Rainbow trout
   • Brown trout
   • Bass
   • Catfish
   • Carp
   • Cod
   • River blackfish
   • Marron
   • Algae
4. Trout
   • Three main trout species
   • Farming trout
   • Water
   • Determining flow in source water
   • Water temperature
   • Water dissolved oxygen
   • Stocking rates for production pools
   • Spawning trout
   • Checking the fish
   • Stripping technique
   • Fertilisation of ova
   • Hatching ova
   • From hatch to free swimming stage
   • Feed
   • After free swim stage
5. Barramundi
   • Industry perspective
   • Breeding and growth rates
   • Induced breeding; hormone injection
   • Growth
   • Fry management and after care
   • Grow out
   • Pond rearing for larvae
   • Barramundi diseases and parasites
6. Bass
   • Varieties: Australian bass, American loudmouth, Smallmouth
   • Habitat requirements: temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH
   • Natural spawning cycle
   • Controlled spawning
   • Harvesting
7. Freshwater Crayfish
   • Scope and nature of crustacean aquaculture
   • Marron and Yabbie
   • Conditions: water, temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, organic loading, water clarity, pod size
   • Initial breeding stocks
   • Production potential
   • Stocking rates
   • Breeding
   • Growth
   • Feeding
   • Composts for Marron feeding
   • Red Claw
   • Yabbie
   • Spiny Freshwater Crayfish
8. Setting Up A Fish Farm
   • Land and water
   • Water requirements
   • Extensive production dams
   • Intensive production pools and raceways
   • Cages
   • Biological filtration systems
   • Filter efficiency
   • Clearing turbid water in dams
   • Protecting fish
   • Improving genetic quality of fish
   • Economics of establishing and running an aquaculture farm
   • Financial management
   • Financial institutions
   • Better planning
   • Economics
   • What to plan for
   • Production
   • Marketing
9. Fish Foods & Feeding
   • Scope and nature
   • Pelleted feed
   • Live feed
   • Brine shrimp
   • Daphnia
   • Worms
   • Night lights
   • Fishmeal
   • Oil meals
   • Fish food production
   • Beef heart
   • Legumes
   • Seafood and vegetable mix
   • Earthworm and compost production
10. Harvesting
    • Introduction
    • Harvesting techniques: seine nets, gill nets, traps, long lines, funnel trap, flyke trap, etc
    • Fish pumps
    • Mechanical graders
    • Fish health management
    • Review of diseases: salmonids, barramundi, trout, carp, etc

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Describe the various aquaculture producing methods.
• Describe the cultural needs of several fish species that are suited for aquaculture.
• Describe the customs around freshwater crayfish.
• Describe the various elements that affect the health of the animals on an aquaculture farm.
• Describe the population management strategies utilised for freshwater animal populations, such as feeding and harvesting.
• Make wise management choices for an aquaculture business.

What You Will Do

• List the elements that make up a production system for aquaculture.
• Systems of intensive versus extensive production are contrasted.
• Analyze the production methods employed by three distinct aquaculture businesses.
• Explain a productive aquaculture system that the student can see.
• List the local freshwater fish that are appropriate for aquaculture.
• List the local saltwater fish that are appropriate for aquaculture.
  Explain the needs for a variety of regularly cultivated freshwater fish, such as bass, trout, and barramundi.
• Explain the needs of one species of saltwater fish that can be farmed commercially at a latitude similar to the learner’s area.
• Label unlabeled graphics to distinguish between the visual traits of various freshwater crayfish, such as Marron, Red claw, and Yabbie.
• Identify the Marron, Red claw, and Yabbie freshwater crayfish’s cultural practises.
• Describe how an aquaculture system’s production may be impacted by water quality.
• Describe the various aquaculture water treatment techniques, such as filtration and aeration.
• Create a list of requirements for choosing a location that is appropriate for a given freshwater aquaculture purpose.
• Describe the effects that different stocking rates can have on an aquaculture animal’s health.
• Examine the potential effects on aquaculture species of various water containment techniques, such as concrete tanks, earthen dams, lined ponds, flowing water, and still water.
• Examine different approaches to feeding domesticated animals, such as fish and crayfish, with regard to the kind of food used and how it is given to the animals.
• Describe the significance of proper feed to the achievement of a particular aquaculture enterprise.
• Examine the content, appearance, and acceptable applications of three different commercially available aquaculture feeds.
• Compare various harvesting methods based on the following factors: equipment needed, time needed, and animal damage.
• Explain the building processes for various water storage facilities, such as concrete tanks, earthen dams, and lined ponds.
• Provide a thorough management system, containing information on breeding, rearing, feeding, harvesting, and marketing, for one species suited for aquaculture.
• Compare aquaculture’s benefits and drawbacks to those of two other agricultural business models.
• Make a list of 40 various industrial resources, such as suppliers of knowledge, machinery, and supplies.
• Analyze the national and worldwide marketing strategies for aquaculture.
• Analyze the viability of the markets for two specific types of aquaculture products.
• Analyze the commercial viability of a proposed aquaculture project.

Locations to Grow Fish

Some farmers use artificial structures like dams, ponds, or tanks, while others use sources of water that are found naturally.
But, similar circumstances may also be created so that there is a greater control and productivity per acre can be much higher. It is obvious that costs can be significant if you need to build something to store the water.

Agricultural cages
Floating or standing cages can also be used for intensive culturing. In deep dams where there is a good water flow through the cages to maintain the water’s freshness, floating cages can be employed effectively. It’s crucial to protect against storm damage.

The cages are soft anchovy mesh bags suspended at the water’s surface by light metal frames atop buoys and are utilised in North America and Europe, mainly in the fiords of Scandinavia. Anchovy netting is frequently used to wrap a light metal frame used to construct cages. Some farmers employ cages with chicken mesh coverings.

In one instance in Carolina, rainbow trout that were 4–6 months old were successfully grown in floating cages until they were ready for harvest. Each of seven cages measuring 7 x 7 x 3 m was supplied with 5000 fish. Every 24 hours, the fish were fed 3% of their body weight. The amount of labour was decreased by using demand feeders to administer the feed. Only two farm employees would be required to maintain 20 of these cages, according to calculations.

A shallow dam or river impoundment’s substrate can also have cages standing on it. It is vital to use rigid cages since netting-based ones cannot stand vertically in the water without adequate support.

A unique method of cleaning fish cages involved replacing 10% of the fish—in this example, rainbow trout—with carp weighing roughly 1 kg each. They effectively maintained the cage netting free of algae and other growths, ensuring good water circulation throughout the cage.

Fish in cages require extra care when being fed. Feed must be administered at a rate that allows fish to utilise it effectively. Overfeeding will cause the uneaten food to be lost to the fish when it escapes the cage’s confines. The fouling (pollution) of the water is the outcome of constant, excessive feeding. Even though his cages were located in a sizable dam, one producer lost a significant amount of fish because he overfed them.

Aquaculture Possibilities are Vast

Now, there are more people than ever before, and the human population is still expanding. The amount of land that can be used to cultivate food is also decreasing. It doesn’t take much to recognise that the only way we can grow more food on less land is to either grow it more intensely or grow it in the vast majority of uncultivated areas of the oceans, rivers, and lakes.

Fish aquaculture (for food) can be divided into three primary categories:

1. Large manufacturing firms with a strong connection to processed goods that are operating on a national and worldwide scale as suppliers to many retail stores.
2. The medium-sized business, which is frequently family-owned, may be combined under a cooperative structure or may directly supply processors and retailers.
3. The tiny family business that sells only locally and has a meagre capacity for manufacturing.

Hatcheries and farms that provide fry or immature fish to the aforementioned and may also supply fish for restocking are an addition to this fundamental system. The issues in the marketplace are partially a result of this structural variety. The geographic locations of production and markets for various goods further complicate the situation because many fish farming products continue to be influenced by the seasons.

Small-scale agriculture farms also make up the great majority of aquaculture operations worldwide. This is particularly true in underdeveloped nations where fish culture is practised to produce meals high in protein to feed farmers and their families or small rural communities. This is not surprising given that aquaculture needs both land and water, and that most of the area appropriate for aquaculture is under the hands of farmers globally.

For huge operations raising salmon, trout, and a few other chosen species, aquaculture has developed into a very lucrative industry. Even though fisheries are not as successful as salmon farming, aquaculture has grown significantly in Mediterranean nations and other regions with shallow water coastal lagoons.

Where Could This Path Go?

When they begin their studies, some students are already interested in aquaculture, and this course aids them in exploring and enhancing their knowledge and abilities.
Others may find that taking this course is the start of something new and exciting in their lives, allowing them to see business or employment options they may not have previously fully appreciated.
Aquaculture can provide a solution to lower food costs and increase the freshness and quality of food in a family’s diet for people who own small farms or are trying to improve their food sustainability on even an average residential property.

This training can be useful for whatever reason you are interested in aquaculture.