THE DESIGN, OPERATIONS AND ECONOMICS OF CAGE CULTURE SYSTEMS

The commercial culturing of fish in cages has expanded significantly i n the past 20 years. While most of this expansion has been with salmon id species, there is still considerable worldwide diversity of cage cu lture species and culture conditions. Trends are toward larger individ ual cages and more exposed sites. Many interactive site, species, envi ronmental, engineering, economic and operational factors must be consi dered during the cage system design process. This process is reviewed and potential problems in design and operations are discussed. 'Rules of good practice' are provided as guidance in avoiding potential pitfa lls. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.