MARICULTURE

About: 

• Mariculture is the farming of aquatic plants and animals in salt water, either in the natural marine environment, or in land- or sea-based enclosures, such as cages, ponds, or raceways. 
  
  
• Thus, mariculture represents a subset of the larger field of aquaculture, which involves the farming of both fresh-water and marine organisms. 
  
  
• The major categories of mariculture species are: seaweeds, mollusks, crustaceans, and finfish. 
  
  
• Advantages:
  • Mariculture offers possibilities for sustainable protein-rich food production and for economic development of local communities. 
    
    
  • It does not require pesticides, fertilizers and water for irrigation, which is an added advantage. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Threats: However, mariculture on an industrial scale may pose several threats to marine and coastal biological diversity due to, for example, wide-scale destruction and degradation of natural habitats, nutrients and antibiotics in mariculture wastes etc.