Inventions & Discoveries · Farming and food

Aquaculture

c. 475 BCE · 5th century BCE · Also known as aquafarming, aquiculture

Aquaculture is the farming of fish, crustaceans, molluscs, algae and other aquatic organisms under controlled or semi-natural conditions. Oral tradition in China places the culture of the common carp around 2000–2100 BCE, but the earliest significant evidence is The Classic of Fish Culture, a monograph by Fan Li written around 475 BCE. Romans bred fish in ponds and farmed oysters before 100 CE, medieval monasteries took up their methods, and Hawaiians built ocean fishponds. By 1866 artificial fish hatcheries operated in Canada and the United States, and world output reached 130.9 million tonnes in 2022.

Aquaculture
Image: NOAA · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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First known
c. 475 BCE
Where
China
Credited to
Fan Li

Also arose independentlyAlekoko, Hawaii (at least 1,000 years ago)

NoteThe Gunditjmara of south-western Victoria, Australia, may have raised eels at Budj Bim as early as about 4,580 BCE, though Peter Sutton disputes that their eel traps were aquaculture. Evidence from Jiahu in China, from 6200 BCE, is speculative.

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Mentioned in 1 profile

Liangzhu cultureSociety, Summary

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Aquaculture. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/aquaculture
MLA
“Aquaculture.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/aquaculture. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Aquaculture.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/aquaculture.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Aquaculture’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/aquaculture (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻