About Fish Hatcheries
Fish hatcheries are an important part of aquaculture. For thousands of years, fishing has been essentially a subset of hunting, with fishermen needing to chase after wild fish. Although it could not be said that fish farms have domesticated their fish, it makes it possible to sustainably raise fish and monitor their population closely. Hatcheries breed fish in a controlled fashion either for farming or to help regrow a damaged species.
Other People Are Reading
-
Benefits
-
Wild fish stocks in most of the world are in sharp decline. The combination of increased global demand for fish fueled by growing population combined with overfishing, pollution and other issues makes it so that wild fish are under heavy pressure. Aquaculture helps to alleviate this significantly by providing an alternative source of fish in a controlled population that can be closely monitored and protected.
Function
-
Fish hatcheries are special facilities that protect fish eggs and encourage the raising of entire schools of fish. Hatcheries generally either service aquaculture facilities or are used to provide fish to stock lakes, streams and rivers for sport fishing. Workers actually strip the eggs from female fish and manually stir in sperm from male fish to fertilize the eggs. They then raise them either in aquariums or special ponds to be fed and sent elsewhere.
-
Considerations
-
Fish bred in hatcheries and raised in farms have a higher rate of mutations and are generally less healthy than their kin that breed in the wild. Despite this, breeding in fish hatcheries is often the best alternative, particularly for rebuilding decimated fish stocks. In many cases, the construction of a dam or some other structure severely disrupts fish in an area, and the construction of a hatchery to restock the waters is the best alternative to simply allowing the population to die out.
Types
-
Another common type of fish hatchery is that used by the aquarium industry to raise certain types of rare fish without needing to pursue the wild population. This is particularly useful for raising popular, colorful tropical fish whose wild populations would otherwise not be able to stand up to the demand for them as pets. These fish can be bred in captivity and then shipped all over the world quite efficiently, reducing transportation expenses and greatly bringing down the profitability of poaching.
Potential
-
The modern hatchery industry is still in its infancy, and will hopefully develop in the years to come. As the process becomes more efficient and hopefully less damaging to captivity-bred offspring, better hatchery processes may help to preserve some of the world's most threatened wild fish stocks. In addition, it may increase the practice of aquaculture, which may in turn continue to reduce the price of fish, improving general access to this healthy, protein-rich and delicious food.
-
Resources
- Photo Credit knitsteel, Flickr
