Aquaculture development strategies in Asia for the 21st century

Abstract

Introduction: Aquaculture in Asia has achieved remarkable progress in the past three decades. According to FAO ( 1999), in the past five years, Asian countries contributed an average of 91 percent of the total world aquaculture production (Figure I ). In 1997, the top 10 world aquaculture producers were all in Asia (Table 1), and over 170 aquatic species were being cultured (Table 2). This tremendous achievement in Asia can be attributed not only to the large variations in geographic and climatic conditions, which are favorable to aquaculture, but also to a long tradition of rural activity dating back 2,500 years (Liao, 1993). The continued prosperity of aquaculture in the region is not at all surprising. Several factors have led to the subsequent expansion of aquacultural production in Asia, such as the basic need of a huge_ population for an affordable and easily accessible protein source, the improving economic status of that population, the continuing exploration of aquaculture areas, and the improvement of techniques, especially larval rearing.