China has a long history of aquaculture and its origin can be traced back to 1100 B.C. Since the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949 and especially since the adoption of reform and open-door policy in late 1970s, aquaculture has achieved remarkable progress.
Aquaculture is an age-old tradition and also a young large-scale undertaking in China. In 1949, aquaculture production was only 20,000 mt contributing 4.5 percent to the total fisheries production. The implementation of the new economic policies since 1978 have stimulated growth of aquaculture and the total aquaculture production in 1995 amounted to over 17 million tons.
The inland aquaculture activities are carried out in ponds, lakes, reservoirs, rivers and paddy fields. At present, the majority of inland aquaculture production comes from pond fish culture, and the carps are the main traditional culture species. In recent years (1978-1995), it has become the fastest growing sub-sector of fisheries. From the early 1980s the mariculture sub-sector has been growing fast and the production reached about 3.5 million tons in 1995.
The country has accorded a high priority to the development of aquaculture. The Bureau of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture is particularly responsible for the development of aquaculture in the whole country.
The aquaculture extension services are provided by the Bureau of Fisheries in cooperation with the fisheries departments under provincial and municipal governments as well as the non-governmental organizations related to fisheries, and the local fishermen's associations. The aquaculture extension policies, plans and programmes are embodied in the five-year fisheries development plans. The most important aquaculture extension activities are carried out under the National Fisheries Bumper Harvest Plan.
It is believed that the overall contribution of the extension services to the dramatic growth in aquaculture in China is very substantial. It is estimated that at least 15 percent of the annual production growth can be directly attributed to the aquaculture extension services.
