Did You Know?

The Aral Sea used to be the world's 4th largest lake.

In some places, the Aral Sea has retreated 100 kilometres from its original boundaries.

The shrinkage of the Aral Sea is considered by some scientist to be one of the worst environmental disasters of all time.

The standard cage for fish farmers has a volume of 700 cubic meters.

Most fish farms tanks are circular, because this allows for the best water flow.

Good water should be saturated with 100% dissolved oxygen.

Aquaculture has contributed more than 3,500 jobs to British Columbia's economy.

Norway is the leading world producer of salmon.

Norway has 6,500 fish farms that employ a total of 12,000 people.

The main expense in fish farming is feeding the fish.

Before salmon are harvested, they have to be starved for 5 days to empty their gut.

About 90,000 fish escaped from fish farms every year from 1990-2000.

Farmed salmon are often genetically altered to make them more disease-resistant.

The majority of farmed salmon in British Columbia are imported Atlantic salmon.

Fish rarely escape in Uzbekistan, since the sea is landlocked.

The aquaculture industry in Chile is worth 1.6 billion American dollars.

A salmon's diet should be 5-20% fat.

Iron is the only mineral found to be essential to a salmon's survival.

Salmon need only minute amounts of vitamins.

A fish's diet should consist of 9-12% carbohydrates.

A female salmon can lay up to 5,000 eggs.

Only 3-4% of salmon actually survive to spawn.

Warm water is best for hatching salmon eggs.

Alevins, newly-hatched salmon, can't swim.

Alevins (newly-hatched salmon) feed off their egg sacs for the first stage of their life.

The mortality rate of smolts in captivity is 50-100%.

Most species of salmon die soon after spawning.