World Aquaculture September 2018

WWW.WA S.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEP TEMBER 2018 15 B O O K R E V I E W T his book, three years in the making, is in many ways long overdue. Given the overwhelming dominance of global aquaculture production by China (68 percent of the total), it is indeed puzzling why a book such as this took so long to be published. The book might be more aptly titled the Encyclopedia of Aquaculture in China because the general approach to the chapters was to describe the current status and practices used to produce the numerous species cultured in China. Indeed the book is reminiscent somewhat of the Encyclopedia of Aquaculture (2000) edited by Robert R. Stickney and even of the clas- sic species compendium Aquaculture: The Farming and Husbandry of Freshwater and Marine Organisms by Bardach, Ryther andMcLar- ney (1974). Chapters are generally concise summaries of the topic. Despite the importance of China to global aquaculture production, species-specific technical information is not widely available outside of the country. No doubt this is due at least in part to the language bar- rier between China and the largely English-speaking world of science. This book goes a long way to bridging that gap. Nearly all of the refer- ences cited were written and published in Chinese journals and so this book brings that information to a wider audience. The book includes contributions from 120 scientists representing members of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and all prominent national universities and government research institutes and laboratories involved in marine and freshwater aquaculture. The large-format (20 × 26 cm), 677-page book has 40 chapters that are organized into eight sections: recent developments (5 chapters), traditional species (6 chapters), emerging species (14 chapters), alien species (5 chapters), genetics (4 chapters), environmental issues (5 chapters), and development strategies (1 chapter). China cultures more than 90 species, more than any country by far. Nearly every species covered in the book has a genetic improvement program associated with it. Each of the species chapters is organized similarly, with sections on main culture areas, historical production trends, production systems, breeding, feeds and disease, marketing and future prospects. However, authors had considerable scope to vary this structure and emphasize certain aspects as appropriate for the species covered. Many chapters have helpful national maps indicating provinces with significant production of a species, most located in the fertile and temperate southeastern one-third of the country, although fish are produced throughout China. An introductory chapter sets the stage by giving the big picture of China’s contribution to national food security and global aquaculture. Chapters follow on the status of inland aquaculture, the status of mariculture and aquaculture’s contribution to rural development. There is some overlap in these initial chapters and indeed throughout the book, especially regarding national production statistics, which are notoriously unreliable. China’s aquaculture has undergone several major transitions in recent decades, but none more important than the shift from traditional inputs of organic wastes and agricultural by- products to pelleted compound feeds. Next is an interesting chapter on the trophic relationships among species in Chinese aquaculture with the main point that the average trophic level has not changed very much since the mid-1980s. China is producing more higher trophic level fish, all frommariculture, but freshwater aquaculture is so dominant that its effect on overall trophic level is minimal. In the section on traditionally farmed species, the chapter on grass carp is subtitled “the fish that feeds half of China.” One interesting finding concerning grass carp is the discovery that feeding broad beans can improve the flavor and flesh characteristics, referred to as “crisped” grass carp, which has a market value twice that of ordinary grass carp. In the chapter on common carp, the section on the various breeding strategies and strains of common carp and the genetic improvement approaches to bream ( Megalobrama and Parabramis ) was fascinating, indicating a high level of effort using the latest biotechnological tools, leading to favorable outcomes. Rice- fish culture is at least 2000 years old but has been transformed only since the 1980s. The chapter describes a “leapfrog” development phase beginning in the mid-1990s. Although there are 19 models of integrated ricefield aquaculture, the most important systems use fish, crayfish, crab or turtle. Unexpectedly, in the section on traditionally farmed species, there were no chapters on two of the four “major Chinese carps”—bighead carp or black carp. Pearl mussels, Chinese mitten crab, oriental river prawn, and mud crab lead the list of emerging culture species in China, each covered in a separate chapter. One of the newer species cultured in China is sturgeon, only farmed since the 1990s. The chapter on snakehead culture highlights the role of snakehead hybrids between Channa argus and C. maculata as the basis for commercial culture of this fish. With the growth of the Chinese middle class, consumption of the predaceous mandarin fish ( Siniperca chuatsi ) has increased steadily since the early 1990s. Chapters on yellow catfish, paddy eel, large yellow croaker, flatfish, rabbitfish, soft-shelled turtle, and hard-shelled turtle round out the section on emerging species. A significant part of aquaculture production in China is based on what is described in this book as “alien” species. Although the red swamp crayfish was introduced in 1929, it was not until the early 2000s, with the development of rice-crayfish culture, that production increased. NowChina contributes more than 90 percent of global production of this species. The complexity and sophistication of the farming systems for this species are impressive. Although white shrimp ( Litopenaeus vannamei ) were introduced into China only in 1988, it is now the world’s largest producer of this species. About 85 percent of shrimp farmed in China is Pacific white shrimp. Despite ( C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 1 6 ) Aquaculture in China Edited by Jian-Fang Gui, Qisheng Tang, Zhongjie Li, Jiashou Liu and Sena S. De Silva