FISH AS AGRICULTURE

Fish have several advantages over other Agricultural animals .one of the major advantages is that fish are ectothermic animals. This means they depend on environment to provide the body temperature needed for life . Because of this , the animals do not have to use energy to produce body heat that must be kept to a consistent temperature. Most of Agricultural animals must use a large portion of their feed intake to maintain body temperature. This is particularly true in very cold weather.
Another advantage is that fish move about and are suspended in water . The natural buoyancy of the water allows them to move about with less energy than animals that live on land .Because of these characteristics, fish are able to put on more body weight with less feed than Most other farm animals .
Example : A sheep must take in around 8 to 9 pounds of feed for every pound gained ,while a fish can gain a pound of body weight on less than 2 pounds of feed .
There are some disadvantages to growing fish for profit .It is expensive to become established in aquaculture Because of the initial outlay of money to construct ponds or other structures. Ponds have to be constructed to exacting specifications in order to catch and hold enough water for the production of fish .The enterprise is also expensive Because it is labor intensive . This means that a lot of labor is required from the time the fish are stocked until they are harvested. The water water has to be constantly monitored to make sure that it it is of sufficient quality for fish to remain alive and healthy .
Aquaculture is a high – risk operation . All of the fish in a pond can die suddenly if the quality of the water falls below acceptable levels.One of the biggest disadvantages of aquaculture is marketing. In areas where the operations have been Most successful, sound marketing plans and operations have been established before fish were produced .Because of the highly perishable nature of the product , aquaculture operations have to be located near the processing plant so the fish can be alive.