Trends and perspectives in Asian aquaculture

Abstract

Introduction: Asia is one of the earliest cradles of aquaculture (Ling, 1977). For thousands of years, fish farming has evolved together with many traditions in the region. Aquaculture, or more specifically fish culture, is generally believed to have its origins in China, which has about 4,000 years of settled population and of unbroken tradition (Hickling, 1962). The artificial hatching of fish was said to have already been practiced by the Chinese as early as 2000 BC (Avault,1996). The first authoritative description on fish culture, pertaining to the common carp, was written by Fan Li in 475 BC. However, the culture species did not become diversified until the 7th- 1 Oth century AD, when Emperor Li of the Tang Dynasty prohibited the culture of the common carp because its local name sounded like his surname (Ling, 1977; and Liao, 2000a). Since then, aquaculture has spread to many countries in the region. Having one of the longest histories on aquaculture, Asians correspondingly rank among the highest seafood consumers in the world (Table 1).