Aquaculture equipment varies depending on the type of aquatic species being farmed, with fish farming being the most common. Pumps are a key component due to water pollution from waste products and uneaten feed. Shrimp farming is considered destructive, while breeding bivalves and aquatic plants is more sustainable.
Aquaculture often involves farming fish, but can also include farming aquatic plants, shellfish, such as lobster, and shellfish, such as clams or oysters. As a result, aquaculture equipment can vary considerably. Fish farming aquaculture equipment can include items such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) tanks, pallet covers and tarps. For shellfish farmers such as those who raise lobster, equipment includes shrimp spawning tanks as a food source for the lobster, as well as microbe and enzyme delivery systems to improve water quality and prevent disease. Oyster farming requires the use of mesh nets and oyster sox, or bags, and other equipment, such as oyster trays and stainless steel cable ties and harnesses.
Aquaculture in general is a diverse industry, with fish farming accounting for 47% of the world’s seafood supply as of 2011. As more than 1,000,000,000 people globally are estimated to rely on fish as their main source of protein, the procurement of aquaculture equipment is a big industry. The variety of fish species mainly farmed in aquaculture is not that diverse, which makes aquaculture equipment quite easy to standardize. In the United States, freshwater aquaculture is the main type of fish farming and is focused on catfish. Worldwide and centered on Asian nations, the main types of fish farmed in aquaculture are carp and tilapia species.
Pumps are a key component of any aquaculture equipment inventory. One reason for this when it comes to aquaculture filtration for fish farming is that commercial operations have fish in very crowded conditions. This creates a large amount of water pollution from waste products and uneaten feed, which must be pumped and filtered constantly to keep the fish alive. Unnatural living conditions also contribute to disease and infection, which is prevented by pumping a constant level of antibiotics into the water supply.
A common cost-saving measure with aquaculture cages is to place them in natural waterways. This form of aquaculture equipment is known as a netpen and allows the natural environment to act as a regulatory mechanism for fish health. Netpen is often used for carnivorous fish species, whereby tilapia, which are herbivores, can be grown in enclosed tanks that are easier to filter, as they are not fed a diet of fish by-products. Herbivorous fish species are a more cost-effective investment in fish farming systems. Carnivorous species such as salmon require about 2 to 5 pounds (0.9 to 2.3 kilograms) of smaller fish as food for every pound (0.5 kilogram) of weight they gain.
Another common type of aquaculture is shrimp farming, which is marine aquaculture often conducted in mangrove swamps along ocean coasts. It is considered a particularly destructive form of aquaculture, as it is generally low-tech and harms the environment. Shrimp farmers use the area’s natural resources to grow shrimp until they become non-viable and then rapidly transition instead of relying on sophisticated aquaculture equipment to create artificially sustained conditions for the shrimp.
The most sustainable and environmentally friendly aquaculture equipment designs involve breeding bivalves, such as oysters and clams, and aquatic plants. Oysters and clams naturally filter water as part of their life cycle and don’t require as much space as fish. Raising fish alongside aquatic plants is also beneficial, as the equipment can collect fish waste to fertilize the plants, and the plants, in turn, can filter the water for the fish.
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