cluding net making, boat and transport carrier construction, fish processing, feed milling, ice making and trading must be immensely more. Bangladesh alone employed about 12 million people in the fishing and aquaculture industry (De­partment of Fishery of Bangladesh, 2003).

2.2.6.1   Capture fisheries
Capture fisheries have either stagnated or dwindled in most of the world. Historically, the vast seas and the inland lakes, rivers and canals were rich sources of fish. With relatively little effort, people could harvest plenty of fish from waters close to the shore and meet their demand. They thought the sea was an inexhaustible source of food. As the hu­man population increased and the demand for fish grew, people gathered more and more knowledge and technology to quickly and safely go farther into the ocean in search of more fish. The modern fishing fleet, with cold storage, pro­cessing facilities, fish-scouting airplanes and sophisticated acoustic technology, can detect the size and nature of fish schools in the open sea and at various depths. This technol­ogy, coupled with extremely efficient fishing gear, including the purse seine and trawl nets, increased marine produc­tion dramatically. But unscrupulous application of technol­ogy eventually resulted in overfishing and depletion of the oceans' fishes (FAO-SOFIA, 2006). Despite caution from scientists, many of the rich marine fishing grounds all over the world, including ESAP, were excessively exploited for human food, industrial raw material for fish meal in farm animal feed, vitamin oils, soap, isinglass for wine purifica­tion and other uses. As a result, 8% of the marine fisher­ies have been depleted, 16% overexploited, and 52% fully exploited; 21% moderately exploited and only 3% remain underexploited (FAO-SOFIA, 2006).
     The inland lagoons, rivers, canals, floodplains and other open waters were not excepted in many countries (FAO, 2007). Effective enforcement of conservation rules for ma­rine or inland open water fisheries resources is seldom pos­sible. Aquatic habitat change or destruction from massive construction of embankments for flood control, drainage and irrigation, construction of weirs in rivers, excessive sur­face water withdrawal, aquatic pollution from agricultural pesticides or indiscriminate release of industrial effluents and unplanned construction of rural roads and culverts that ob­struct fish movement have all contributed to the destruction of marine fisheries. In at least six ESAP countries, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Thailand, fish catch clearly declined (FAO, 2007).

2.2.6.2  Aquaculture fisheries
As opposed to the decline in capture fisheries, aquaculture production since the  1950s increased steadily, with the 1980s described as spectacular, largely from the significant development of aquaculture knowledge, science and tech­nology (FAO, 2007). Significant increase in the global hu­man population, the reduced supply of food fish and the high price of exportable aquatic species from open water because of the increased demand stimulated aquaculture practices to quickly develop and flourish. Farming various aquatic organisms became profitable.
     Within global aquaculture, ESAP aquaculture rose from 54% in 1950 to 90% in 2004 (FAO, 2007). The first seven

ESAP countries in gross aquaculture production by volume, including aquatic plants, in 2004 were China, India, Phil­ippines, Indonesia, Japan, Viet Nam and Thailand. China alone produced 41,661,660 tonnes, accounting for 78%; the next six countries accounted for 17%; the remaining countries 5%.
     The value of ESAP aquaculture products was estimated at nearly US$56 billion, which was about 80% of the global value. Although the rest of the world produced 10% of the global production volume, ESAP contributed 20% of the value, indicating they produced more higher-value items. Within ESAP, China alone accounted for 66% of the to­tal value; six other top countries, Japan, India, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh, together with China, exceeded 92% of the ESAP value (FAO, 2007).
     The estimated numbers of employment in aquaculture of ESAP countries varied greatly, depending on the produc­tion and its socioeconomic importance. China had the high­est numbers, reflecting its production. In some countries employment could be broken down according to the species involved. For example, shrimp aquaculture in Bangladesh employed about 600,000 people (Karim, 2003).
     In many ESAP countries, fish was a major source of ani­mal protein: Cambodia 75%; Bangladesh 63%; Philippines 52%; and China 32% (FAO-SOFIA, 2006). It was not easy to get reliable data on per capita fish consumption, since fisheries products were varied, were not solely for human consumption and often it was hard to separate imported and exported fish products. Fish consumption per capita in selected ESAP countries stayed the same from 1969 to 2002 for some countries, like Japan, while in others, such as Cambodia and China, it increased three- to fivefold. The inference is that the increase in ESAP population increased fish consumption tremendously.
     Finfish from freshwater, marine and diadromous spe­cies—species that use both marine and freshwater habi­tats during their life cycle—constituted 46% (24,526,070 tonnes), aquatic weeds 25% (13,453,710 tonnes), mollusks 22%   (12,022,658   tonnes),   crustaceans   6%   (3,324,779 tonnes) and miscellaneous aquatic animals less than 1% (393,037 tonnes) of total production. Value from freshwa­ter, marine and diadromous finfish was 49%, crustaceans 23%, mollusks 14%, aquatic weeds 12% and miscellaneous aquatic animals 2%. Of the total finfish production in 2004 of 24,526,070 tonnes, carp accounted for about 64%; by value, it contributed 48%.
     In most ESAP countries,  aquaculture started in the freshwater ecosystem with mainly carp and carp-related species. In Indonesia and the Philippines, it started in the brackish water ecosystem, mainly for culturing milkfish in the tidal flats.
     When aquaculture began, it was simple and entirely based on stocking wild fry. It used no liming, fertilization, artificial feeding or aeration of the pond. It depended on either rainwater or high tide for its water supply. With time, AKST  gradually  developed  and  aquaculture  underwent rapid changes. An important milestone was the development of artificial spawning technology. That made it possible to produce quality fish and crustacean fry in an artificial en­vironment on a commercial scale. The technology was first developed and commercially used in the 1950s in China. It