ABSTRACT
It is well understood that aquaculture is the fastest growing animal food production sector with per capita supply increasing from 0.7 kg in 1970 to 20.300 kg in 2016. Most of the global aquaculture production of fish, crustaceans and molluscs continue to come from inland waters (64.50% by quantity). Mariculture contributes 35.25% of the total aquaculture production. While much of the marine production is contributed by high value finfish, relatively low priced mussels and oysters are also widely farmed. While the overall share of farmed fish in marine fish production has stayed much low, or the species that are farmed, cultured fish dominates the market. This 1s the case of Asian sea bass, gilthead sea bream red drum, bastard halibut and cobia. It is also a fact that for such species, he quantities now produced by aquaculture are often substantially higher than the past highest catch recorded by capture ‘fisheries. In the last decade, salmonids have overtaken shrimp as the top aquaculture group In Latin America and the Caribbean as a result of outbreaks of disease in the major shrimp producing areas (FAO, 2009). Aquaculture in the Asla Pacific region has been growing steadily over the last ‘few decades and to satisfy the demand of the local and export markets, many countr.ies are expanding their aquaculture activities in the sea, including offshore areas where competition is less. Maricullure region is exceptionally biodiversity and relies on many species and hence the nature of mariculture is rapidly changing tn this area (Rimmer, 2008). Some of the countries like China, Vietnam, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea DPR Korea Rep, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand are much ahead in marlculture in this region and agencies like Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia Pacific (NACA) should take intergovernmental regional programmes so as to develop mariculture in the region as a whole.
