"This book focuses on fish farming aquaculture veterinary medicine. Even though there are other significant sectors of aquaculture which include shellfish culture, mollusk culture, and aquatic plant culture we focus only on finfish culture. This chapter and the next chapter on water quality are important because they provide the context for the remaining chapters. We assume that the reader is already familiar with the principles of veterinary medicine and general animal husbandry. You may be familiar with the structure and function of other livestock farms; however, aquaculture is generally not covered extensively in veterinary medicine training. Beginning in this chapter, we discuss how fish farms operate, how fish producers think about raising fish, and how they view fish health. Your veterinary recommendations will be more readily accepted when the producer has confidence that you understand how their fish are raised. We encourage you to read other excellent books that discuss the details of fish culture.

"-- Provided by publisher.