Recently, Chinese fish production has become the
largest in the world and is going to determine the
prospects for global aquaculture growth in the next
decade.
1
About 43% of the Chinese fish production
depends on freshwater fish.
2,3
Silver carp
Hypophthalmichthys
molitrix
is one of the major species in
the Chinese freshwater fish production. About 40%
of the aquaculture fish production in Chinese
freshwater environments (9 410 000 t in 1995) is
attributed to the total production of silver carp and
big head carp
Aristichthys nobilis
.
3
Another characteristic
of silver carp culture is that they are harvested
as a by-product in polyculture systems and
have a low commercial value.
3