Megan Winslow of the University of Florida
Florida’s thriving aquaculture industry is a key part of the state’s economy, generating more than $165 million in sales per year, helping to hire rural and coastal communities. Aquaculture, recognized as agriculture by the Florida Legislature in 1993, contributes to food security, environmental sustainability and economic resilience.
“Like ground agriculture, aquaculture is the process of growing or growing a product,” said Shirley Baker, professor of UF/IFAS aquaculture and associate director of the Faculty of Forest, Fisheries and Geosciences. “People who do the work consider themselves farmers. Their products are plants and animals grown or raised in the water.”
The industry, overseen by the Florida Agricultural Consumer Services (FDACS), includes an estimated 1,500 food fish, feeding fish, mollusks, aquatic plants, alligators, turtles, crustaceans, amphibians, caviar and ornamental fish. With proper regulatory support, aquaculture can continue to be the driving force behind Florida’s economy and environmental management.
Florida aquaculture features include salt and freshwater species, ornamental or tropical fish raised for aquariums. In 2023, the sector generated more than $57 million, making the state the country’s top pet fish producer. In fact, 95% of US decorative fish come from the state of the sun.
Approximately 90% of Florida’s decorative fish are freshwater varieties. Farmers primarily grow surviving species in sterile soil ponds excavated in loam or bedrock. They fill the pond with sexually mature fish called bloodstock and harvest offspring using baited traps. Most egg-selling fish are grown in commercial hatch sites.
Like decorative fish, the demand for agricultural seafood is growing, and wild sources are becoming increasingly depleted. Globally, over 50% of all seafood for human consumption is produced through aquaculture.
“Seafood is considered one of the most sought-after sources of lean protein in the world and must come from somewhere,” said Matthew DiMaguio, director of the UF/IFAS Tropical Aquaculture Institute in Ruskin. “The oceans cannot produce more than they already have, so aquaculture must make up for the deficit.”
