In Virginia and throughout the United States, interest in fish farming for profit or as a hobby has increased in the past few years. Encouraged by the success of trout farmers in western states and catfish farmers in southern states, prospective fish farmers question if similar opportunities exist in Virginia's fresh waters.

Conservative estimates place the correct number of farm ponds in Virginia at over 50,000. These ponds range in size from less than one acre to over 30 acres in size. Unfortunately, many of these ponds are so poorly constructed that they fail to serve the purpose for which they were originally designed; some may be unsafe.

Aquatic plants growing in ponds and lakes are beneficial for fish and wildlife. They provide food, dissolved oxygen, and spawning and nesting habitat for fish and waterfowl.

Fish die as a result of a wide variety of natural and unnatural causes. Fish may die of old age, starvation, body injury, stress, suffocation, water pollution, diseases, parasites, predation, toxic algae, severe weather, and other reasons.

At times landowners may be confronted with serious water losses resulting from the sudden collapse or gradual deterioration of earthen pond dams, irrigation canals, and drainage ditches. Although the loss of water from small earthen impoundments is frequently due to faulty construction, it may also be the result of undetected biological forces.

“Liming,” as the word suggests, is the addition of limestone (calcite), primarily calcium carbonate (CaCO3), to neutralize acid waters and soils and buffer them from rapid fluctuations in pH. Limestone typically is applied to lawns, gardens, pastures, and croplands to supply calcium, an essential plant nutrient, and to decrease soil acidity.

Aquatic biodiversity is the rich and wonderful variety of plants and animals—from crayfish to catfish, from mussels to mayflies, from tadpoles to trout—that live in watery habitats. It is the number of different native species, or species richness.

When a species goes extinct, all the genetic information carried by individuals of that species is lost forever, never to be reproduced again. Extinction is a terrible waste of life and a loss of potential solutions to future problems such as possible cures to disease and solutions for survival in a changing world.

Natural aquatic habitats include ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, springs, estuaries, bays, and various types of wetlands. Some of these habitats are shallow and others deep, some are cold-water and others warm-water, some are freshwater and others saltwater, and some have high oxygen levels and others little oxygen.

Nearly 300 species of mussels inhabit freshwater rivers, streams, and lakes in the United States. This is the richest diversity of mussels found in the world and an extraordinary natural heritage that needs protection. Because of the lustrous, pearl-like interior of the shells, some of these pearly mussels have important commercial value in the cultured pearl and jewelry industry.

Of the approximately 500 crayfishes (some times called crawdads or crawfish) found on earth, about 400 crayfish species live in waters in North America, and about 353, nearly 70 percent of the world’s total species, inhabit waters in the United States.

Nearly 800 native fish species in 36 families inhabit the freshwater rivers, streams, and lakes of the United States and Canada. North America has the most diverse temperate freshwater fish fauna in the world.

This is the largest and most ecologically diverse family of freshwater fishes in the world. Minnows are exclusively freshwater, although some species stray into brackish, tidal waters. Over 290 species of minnows occur in North America.

Inland lakes constitute one of our greatest natural resources. They are immensely popular features, particularly as recreational community developments.

Of the many wildlife management practices the private landowner can do, few are as rewarding as those which favor wood ducks. Wood ducks and a multitude of other wildlife species respond readily to managed wetlands.

Fish farming is an ancient practice that can provide many profitable opportunities today. The raising and selling of fish on a commercial basis has proven to be economically successful throughout the United States.