116 



mon, redfish, abalone, New England lobsters, 

 spiny lobstei-s, crabs, shrimp, oysters, bay 

 scallops, and hard clams. Nevertheless, tech- 

 nological development of aquaculture has just 

 begun in the United States. Research has re- 

 vealed many areas of potential improvement 

 including predator control, genetic control 

 (to improve quality, growth rate, and adapta- 

 bility of various species), and the possibility 

 of using presently wasted sources of nutrients 

 and heat to effect economical control of local 

 culturing environments. One technique which 

 shows potential for replenishing natural 

 stocks of marine plants is to transplant heat- 

 tolerant species to waters warmed from elec- 

 trical power plants. 



The Future of Aquaculture 



Aquaculture has much the same relation- 

 ship to a fishing economy that agriculture 

 has to a hunting economy. Obviously, con- 

 trolled production has many advantages over 



harvesting wild stocks. Planting, quality 

 control, feeding, and harvesting can be suited 

 to the needs of the organism with resulting 

 high productivity. With a growing demand 

 for seafood, an uncertain natural supply of 

 some species to meet the demand, and the po- 

 tential for vast improvements in aquaculture 

 technology, prospects for profitable aquacul- 

 ture are increasing rapidly. 



Aquaculture can be a valuable supplement 

 to natural harvesting, enabling aquacultur- 

 ists to move stocks into the market at times 

 when natural supplies are seasonally low 

 or unavailable for other reasons. Further, 

 aquaculture offers the possibility for species 

 improvement by selective breeding to meet 

 human tastes and marketing requirements. 



Knowledge, however, is still incomplete. 

 Considerable research and development will 

 be necessary before aquaculture can be 

 brought to a major place in the seafood econ- 

 omy. For the near future, it appears that em- 



Great Britain plaice, sole 



Japan shrimp, crab, abalone, sea 



bream, puffer fish. Pacific 

 salmon, others 



United States lobster, Pacific salmon 



Cost: benefit 1:3^-5)^ based on hatchery costs 

 and return to commercial fishery. 



