Terraced taro field along the hillside of Kauai island
Posted on 08/15/2013 6:45:53 AM PDT by Renfield
Phrases like “lessons from the past” or “learning from ancient history” are apt to make our eyes glaze over, and we flash to memories of boring history classes or droning TV documentaries. But in the case of aquaculture, a little historical knowledge can be both entertaining and enlightening.
Fish farming is not new; it has been practiced for centuries in many cultures. Ancient Chinese societies fed silkworm feces and nymphs to carp raised in ponds on silkworm farms, Egyptians farmed tilapia as part of their elaborate irrigation technology, and Hawaiians were able to farm a multitude of species such as milkfish, mullet, prawns, and crab. Archaeologists have also found evidence for aquaculture in Mayan society and in the traditions of some North American native communities.
The award for oldest records about fish farming goes to China, where we know it was happening as early as 3500 BCE, and by 1400 BCE we can find records of criminal prosecutions of fish thieves. In 475 BCE, a self-taught fish entrepreneur (and government bureaucrat) named Fan-Li wrote the first known textbook on fish farming, including coverage of pond construction, broodstock selection and pond maintenance. Given their long experience with aquaculture, it’s no surprise that China continues to be, by far, the largest producer of aquacultural products.....
(Excerpt) Read more at newswatch.nationalgeographic.com ...
Terraced taro field along the hillside of Kauai island
Ping
Unfortunately, the “sustainable” Chinese farms where people, ducks and other fowl, pigs and fish live in close confinement with each other and eat each other’s feces is the world’s main source for new stains of influenza and some other diseases. Random swapping of viruses has unintended consequences sometimes.
I rest my case.
“In ancient China and Thailand, a single farm might raise multiple species, such as ducks, chickens, pigs and fish while taking advantage of anaerobic (without oxygen) digestion and waste recycling to produce thriving terrestrial husbandry and farming that in turn supported thriving aquaculture farms.”
This is a recipe for generating pathogens.
Ever been to Kauai?
Menehune at work. Caution.
So humans left Africa, migrated to China and started doing everything thousands of years before anyone else?
This is a recipe for generating pathogens.
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Most definitely.
I will not buy fish unless it is wild caught by American fisherman.
Some time ago, I read that fish that are farmed do not produce the omega fatty acids that are desirable in our diet. Instead, as they are fed the equivalent of junk food, they produce a less beneficial form.
Pretty much. Most of the world's major innovations came out of China up to around 1500, when for some obscure reason Chinese innovation essentially stopped, not only relative to the West which was taking off in history's most spectacular explosion of inventiveness, but even in comparison to its own past history.
In 1500 China was on average well ahead of Europe technologically and economically, though even then probably not militarily,but it essentially stopped dead in its tracks while the West powered ahead and passed them during the 18th century, with the dramatic effects for China we see in the 19th and 20th.
I have never seen a particularly obvious explanation for this drastic change in Chinese society.
They definitely are less tasty. I don't know if it would be possible to produce tasty farmed fish. It is obviously not necessary to feed them "junk food," but maybe it is not possible to compete economically with those farmers who do.
Thanks, but I am more interested in why humans had to get so far away from Africa to innovate.
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