While not thought of as crucial to the aquaculture industry, genetic data can be helpful
in certain situations. Many in the crayfish aquaculture industry would like to increase
production levels in order to increase profits in the marketplace. There may be several
ways in which to do this, either raise many smaller individuals or fewer much larger
individuals. The larger individuals usually garner the highest market prices, so many
aquaculturalists would prefer to raise and sell these individuals. Disease is also an
important concern of many aquaculturalists and has a huge potential to wipe out the
year'
s efforts. Genetic data can help here too, by allowing us to find and characterise
disease-causing agents, by genetically engineering disease resistance into the crayfish
themselves or by identifying individuals with a predisposition to resistance. One way to
aid in these endeavours is through quantitative genetic approaches and setting up
selective breeding programs. In this way, individuals can be selectively mated in order
to increase the frequency of the trait of interest in the population.