Fish farming or pisciculture involves raising fish commercially in tanks or enclosures, usually for food. It is the principal form of aquaculture. A facility that releases juvenile fish into the wild for recreational fishing or to supplement a species' natural numbers is generally referred to as a fish hatchery. Worldwide, the most important fish species used in fish farming are carp, tilapia, salmon, and catfish. Demand is increasing for fish and fish protein, which has resulted in widespread overfishing in wild fisheries. China provides 62% of the world's farmed fish. As of 2016, more than 50% of all fish are produced by aquaculture
As wild fishing stocks collapse through over-fishing, fish farming is growing rapidly. In 1970 only around 5 per cent of the fish we ate came from farms. Today half of the fish we eat is farmed. Some scientists have predicted that by 2048, stocks of all species of sea fish will have collapsed, forcing us to rely almost exclusively on farmed fish.
Design criteria for The Fish Farm required it to be modular (same design, repeated), lockable, transportable, affordable and profitable. The profoundly simple solution was to fit retired 6m and 12m shipping containers with a series of tanks, pumps and filters thereby turning the containers into micro-intensive fish farms. Water consumption is minimal, because it’s like a swimming pool – the water circulates through filters and back into the tanks, and if necessary, expelled high-nutrient water goes onto a vegetable garden or through a vegetable hydroponics system. In fact, every veggie garden needs a Fish Farm! Put the clean tap or borehole water into the tanks, and let the fish fertilise the water before it goes to the veggies!
Over the past decade, world capture fisheries production has remained stable at around 90 million tonnes per year. In 2010, Africa contributed 7 597 427 million tonnes, or 9% of global caught supply, representing a regional increase of 6.8 times from 1 109 387 tonnes in 1950. In that year, fish catches and aquaculture totalled some 158 million tonnes valued at US$ 217.5 billion
