Aquaculture is a rapidly growing food producing
sector. The sector has grown at an average rate of 8.9%
per year since 1970, compared to only 1.2% for capture
fisheries and 2.8% for terrestrial farmed meat-production
systems over the same period (FAO, 2004). In contrast to
aquaculture, capture fisheries landings as a whole is
stagnant. Although catch rates for some species did not
decline during the 1990s, most ocean fisheries stocks are
now recognized as fully or over fished. The worldwide
decline of ocean fisheries stocks and the further expansion
of the human population are an incentive for the further
growth of aquaculture. Despite the growth of the sector,
aquaculture production still needs to increase 5-fold in the
next 2 decades in order to satisfy the minimum protein
requirement for human nutrition