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Cage Culture

cage culture

Need assistance with wildlife and fish management on your ranch, backyard, or pond? Simply call your local County Extension Agent.

Fish can be cultured in one of four culture systems—ponds, raceways, recirculating systems or cages. A cage or net pen is a system that confines the fish or shellfish in a mesh enclosure. By strict definition, a cage and a net pen differ based on their construction. A cage has a completely rigid frame (on all sides) and a net pen has a rigid frame only around the top. However, the terms “cage” and “net pen” are often used interchangeably. Marine cages are often called net pens, even though they have completely rigid frames, and vice versa. Structural differences have little effect on production practices or the environmental impact of these systems. Cage culture uses existing water resources (ponds, rivers, estuaries, open ocean, etc.) but confines the fish inside some type of mesh enclosure. The mesh retains the fish, making it easier to feed, observe and harvest them. The mesh also allows the water to pass freely between the fish and surrounding water resource, thus maintaining good water quality and removing wastes.

-SRAC Publication No. 160, What Is Cage Culture?

Southern Regional Aquaculture Center

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  • SRAC Publication No. 160 – What is Cage Culture?
  • SRAC Publication No. 161 – Cage Culture- Site Selection and Water Quality
  • SRAC Publication No. 162 – Cage Culture- Cage Construction, Placement, and Aeration
  • SRAC Publication No. 163 – Cage Culture- Species Suitable for Cage Culture
  • SRAC Publication No. 164 – Cage Culture- Handling and Feeding Caged Fish
  • SRAC Publication No. 165 – Cage Culture Problems
  • SRAC Publication No. 166 – Cage Culture- Harvesting and Economics
  • SRAC Publication No. 170 – In-Pond Raceways
Auburn University
  • Introduction to Intensive Cage Culture of Warmwater Fish
  • Caged Fish Production in Alabama
  • Managing Cage Culture Systems
Iowa State University Fisheries Extension
  • Managing Iowa Fisheries -Cage Fish Culture
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  • Cage Aquaculture – Regional reviews and global overview
Langston University
  • Caged Fish Culture
  • Caged Catfish Culture Problems
  • Cage Construction Technique For Plastic Coated Wire Mesh Cages
  • Cage Culture of Rainbow Trout
  • Tilapia Culture In Cages And Open Ponds
NOAA 
  • Marine Cage Culture and the Environment
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