简介:

This book is about taking the first steps in aquaculture. You’ve already taken the first step. You’ve bought this book. This is the second, and revised, edition of The Australian Fish Farmer. The authors would like to thank anyone who is buying it for the second time and would like to assure them that they won’t be disappointed.Much has happened in Australian aquaculture over the intervening years and the text revision has been major. New species are being cultured, new diets developed and new husbandry methods proven. For new readers, could we suggest you read the whole book through first to get an overview of the subject. The chapters have been based on years of developing practical training programs. They will take the reader through the overall thrust of aquaculture, the nuts and bolts of the industry and how they are put together to create a commercial operation. They outline the different phases, from the highly technical hatchery phase to the daily routine of the production phase to the high excitement of marketing. First of all, aquaculture is not rocket science, although it is based in science. The rules of genetics, water chemistry, nutrition and biology are the parameters within which we, as practicing fish and crayfish farmers, have to operate. How we, as farm and business managers, work within those boundaries will determine how successful our enterprise becomes. The views and methods expressed in these pages are based on our own experience, observations and accepted industry practices.We have put this information into book form to help steer prospective and practicing aquaculturists in the right direction. Aquaculture is multi-faceted and anyone who thinks they can push aquaculture in the direction they want it go is kidding themselves.We see, too often, people coming into aquaculture trying to make it what they want it to be, rather than what it is. One thing this book should leave you with is the knowledge of what aquaculture is. To call the book ‘Fish farming made easy’ wouldn’t be honest, because like all things in life worth doing, it’s not.What we have tried to do is simplify fish farming.We feel that we have achieved this.We hope you feel the same after having read it. The three tenets of The Australian Fish Farmer are to: • expose the reader to the many opportunities that exist in aquaculture; • alert them to the many pitfalls; and • develop enough confidence in the reader’s aquaculture judgement to make their own informed aquaculture and commercial decisions.