CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
       Although there are thousand of years of experience supporting aquaculture in and other countries, it is relatively young industry in the United States. It is also one of the fastest growing segments of animae agriculture. Aquaculture output has grown at a rate of more than 10% for captured fishers and 3% for livestock meat production (FAO, 2000) while only 13 million tons of fish were produced in North American in 1990, there were over 31 million tons produced in 1998. Concurrently, the value of this production doubled from 490 million to nearly 81 billion (USAA, 1998).
       Human consumption of fish and related foods is increasing each year. Demand for fish products is greater than the ability of the oceans to supply them. A reduction in wild –caught fish coupled with increased consumption by American consumers has led to increased profitability, improvement in technology required for captive production, and a rapid expansion of farmed aquatic specie. As a result aquaculture is becoming a major alternatives crop globally and in many areas of the United States illustrates the increasing percentage of the total world fish production supplied by aquaculture in relation to the oceanic catch. Because the oceanic fish is no longer increasing significantly, additional production depends on growing more fish through aquaculture. Approximately 75 percent of the earths surface is covered by water yet humans harvest only 1 percent of their total food supply from this source.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
       Over 4000 years ago the Chinese through trial and error developed a system approach to harvesting the nutritional riches of water. They found that different species feed in different natural niches. The animals of particular use to in the ancient Chinese were complementary varieties or crop. The common crop (Cyprinus Earpio) is abenethic that consumer invertebrates in the bottom of the ponds. For thousand of years carp species provided the Chinese with a sustainable harvest. The Chinese discovered that the use of manure as fertilizer could enhance the productivity of a pond. In the 1880s aquaculturist in Eastern Europe countries also cultured the common carp (Silver carp, black carp, grass carp), in the United States aquacultures was launched when the federal government began hatching and stocking program to restock salmon lost spawning rivers in the North West. In an attempt to increase Salmon numbers in the wild, the federal government began hatching program that were basically “put and take” system. Eggs were collected, hatched in captivity and fingerlings released. This program, although successful in increasing wild-caught number, was actually more successful in providing initial information and research for the science of aquaculture. Hatching and restocking into the wild required development of the same technology as that needed by commercial hatching. This made salmon the major marine fish industry of the United state with more than half the production coming from public because over 600 million commercial salmon landing accounting annually.