Aquaculture exemplifies the ongoing global struggle to strike a sustainable balance between the conflicting needs of a rapidly increasing world population, human health, ecosystem health, the welfare of wild and domesticated animals, and the economic principles of globalized economies. On the one hand, aquaculture has great potential for providing us with a healthy and nutritious food supply while alleviating pressure on captive fisheries and reducing habitat destruction, overfishing, genetic modification of wild populations, and the wholesale waste of bycatch. On the other hand, aquaculture relies heavily on clean water, an increasingly scarce resource under intense pressure to be used for many competing purposes.

This concise primer introduces students to the basic concepts, opportunities, and challenges of aquaculture with an emphasis on ecological considerations. It provides a critical assessment of current aquaculture practices from a broad, interdisciplinary perspective, focusing on how best to align the two major —and often conflicting— goals of future aquaculture development: minimizing reliance on ecosystem services while maximizing productivity.

A Primer of Ecological Aquaculture provides an accessible and authoritative overview for a wide range of undergraduate majors in biology, engineering, environmental policy, business, and management. It will also appeal to a broader academic audience interested in gaining an updated overview of the field.