Aquaculture provides the majority of the world's seafood

Aquaculture – the cultivating of freshwater and saltwater fish under controlled conditions – has remained one of the fastest growing industries in the agricultural sector. Since the late 1980s, traditional "capture" fisheries have been on a plateau. Aquaculture, by contrast, increased by 8.8% per year from 1985 to 2010 and had witnessed an eightfold increase by the mid-2020s. It now accounts for the majority of the world's seafood, surpassing wild catch harvests by weight. The capture fishing industry itself has faced severe problems. Overfishing, climate change and pollution have all contributed to the sharp decline of yields. The largest centres for aquaculture remain in East and Southeast Asia – with the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia seeing large increases in production.

Cambodia in particular has seen massive growth. New techniques have been adopted, helping to increase both sustainability and yield. One such method, used for the cultivation of jumbo shrimp, is super-intensive stacked raceways. Shrimp are grown in large, enclosed tubes called raceways, in which computers monitor and control a steady circulation of mineral water.  As they mature, they are moved down the stacked columns of tubes, until they reach the final bottom row, fully grown, where they are harvested. This method greatly increases the output of shrimp farms, up to one million pounds of shrimp per square acre, and can be deployed almost anywhere.

 The growth of aquaculture has caused a major shift in commerce and trade. Countries previously reliant on imports are now capable of producing vast quantities of fish, crustaceans, seaweed and other seafood Numerous start-up companies have appeared to fill the growing industry. Aquaculture as a whole will become one of the most vital industries in the world this century, as traditional commercial fishing breaks down and produces unsustainable yields.