Fish growth in marine culture systems: A challenge for biotechnology

Aquaculture production is constrained largely by the growth efficiency: of the species bring produced. Nutritional approaches have played an important part in improving this situation, but, it is argued, the room for further improvement using such established techniques is limited. Alternative ways of improving fish production by utilizing recent biotechnological advances are explored and assessed as to their potential for commercialization in th e near future. Transgenic technologies promise a revolution in aquaculture, bur it is considered that consumer resistance may delay the use of transge nic fsh for food production. An alternative approach could be the breeding of transgenic fodder plants without the amino acid deficiencies of existing alternatives to fish meal in aquaculture diets. The use of probiotics coul d reduce antibiotic use on fish farms while they might also provide the bas is for "smart" diets, tailored to specific purposes by the inclusion of mic roorganisms. The selection and genetic engineering of nitrifying and denitr ifying bacteria could also pave the way for fully enclosed, recirculating m arine culture sr;stems, which would allow control of the environmental vari ables that currently restrain marine fish culture.