What is Aquaculture?
Aquaculture is the process of raising fish, plants and other aquatic organisms in controlled conditions to produce a marketable product. The aquaculture industry includes private and state-owned fish farms that raise fish for human consumption, hatchery facilities that release fish into the wild, baitfish operations that raise minnows, and commercial growers raising fish for the aquarium trade. Michigan has great potential to use its resources to produce locally farmed fish and increase seafood sustainability.
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Products and Services
Michigan aquaculturists produce fish for stocking, angling (fee fishing) and food. The Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (MDARD) has produced an Aquaculture Facilities List by County that you can use to locate producers and products offered in your area.
Fish Stocking
Fish stocking is the practice of raising fish in a hatchery and releasing them into a river, lake, or the ocean to supplement existing populations, or to create a population where none exists. Stocking may be done for the benefit of commercial or recreational fishing, but may also be done to restore or increase a population of threatened or endangered fish in a body of water closed to fishing.
Fish stocking may be done by governmental agencies in public waters or by private groups in private waters.
Michigan aquaculture producers supply a number of fish species for stocking private water bodies; for a current list of aquaculture facilities and species produced, click here.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) has an extensive fish stocking program; details about the fish species raised and where they have been stocked can be found at MDNR Fish Stocking Database.
Food Fish Production
Michigan aquaculture producers supply a number of food fish species for purchase at the farm gate and/or at local markets and retail outlets. For a current list of aquaculture facilities and species produced, click here.