Unit Introduction
Earth’s population, at present over six billion people, is projected to grow to ten billion by the year 2050 (see figure below). Fish and other seafood have provided much of the protein needed by the present population, and demand will increase as the population grows. With increasing pressure on depleted wild fish stocks, aquascience and aquaculture technologies must meet an increasingly larger share of that expected demand. An exploding human population will mean increased pollution of coastal and open ocean resources, creating environmental stresses in fish populations that will result in further reduced fishery landings.
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Population growth in third-world countries spills over into developed countries through immigration. Australia, the U.S. and European countries are all experiencing unprecedented immigration rates.
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Worldwide, aquacultural products now account for more than 8.4 million metric tons of finfish, 715,600 metric tons of crustaceans, and 2.9 million metric tons of mollusks grown each year. (One metric ton is equal to 2,204.6 pounds.) Asia, mainly China, is by far the largest aquaculture producer, accounting for 85 percent of the market as compared to only 8 percent for Europe, 2.5 percent for Russia, and 3 percent for North America. Aquaculture is a large and lucrative global business!
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A South Carolina clam aquaculture operation raises both the spat (in open tanks) and the green algae they eat (background cylinders).
Image Courtesy: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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The global economy and worldwide commerce distribute aquaculture products to markets around the world. Some of these products carry foreign pathogens and harmful parasites that can spread quickly, infecting aquacultural stock, with devastating consequences. Existing antibiotics and medicines used to treat fish are becoming less effective as pathogens develop resistance to them. Losses to the United States aquaculture industry from disease outbreaks are more than $3 billion each year. Imagine how many billions of dollars are lost in China and other producers each year because of aquatic disease pathogens and parasites.
This unit will introduce students to fish diseases, organisms important in fish health, and the reasons diseases occur and are spread in fish populations. They will learn about new molecular-based techniques used to diagnose fish diseases, and ways of preventing and treating fish disease. Materials in this unit will also help students explore the risks and benefits of genetic engineering in aquaculture. Ethical questions and environmental threats from the use of biotechnology will be addressed. Finally, students will be introduced to the relatively new but extremely powerful field of bioinformatics to learn how scientists worldwide share information and gain access to genetic databases.
PDF file for this project
