Editorial Policy
This page shows how AquacultureFarm.org picks its topics, where each figure comes from, who checks it, and how errors get fixed.
Its purpose is simple: you should be able to check our work, not just believe it.
What the site is for
AquacultureFarm.org is an independent reference on fish, shellfish, and seaweed farming in the United States. Readers run anything from a backyard tank or aquaponics setup to a working catfish, trout, or oyster farm.
Guides fall under 12 topics: aquaculture basics, farming systems, species, water quality, feeds and nutrition, fish health, hatchery and breeding, harvest and processing, starting a farm, sustainability, industry and data, and gear.
Aquaculture research is public, but it’s scattered. Pieces sit with federal agencies, five Regional Aquaculture Centers, land-grant universities, and 50 state rulebooks. We gather those pieces, compare them, and write them up plainly, naming the source next to every figure.
What AquacultureFarm.org is not
A fish farm. Nobody on the team raises fish or shellfish or reports results from ponds or tanks of their own.
A fish health lab or veterinary practice. Disease guides cover signs and causes. They never tell you what your fish have.
A source of treatment rates. Drug and chemical rates come from the label or a veterinarian.
A permit office. We explain how licenses and permits work and name the agency that decides.
An equipment tester. Gear pages lean on manufacturer documents and labeled owner reports.
A replacement for local help. Your extension aquaculture specialist knows your water, your climate, and your state’s rules.
Five rules for every guide
On a fish farm, one bad night can cost a whole pond. These rules apply to every page we publish.
Description, never diagnosis. Guides explain how columnaris or oxygen stress typically shows up. Only a fish health lab can confirm what your fish actually have.
No drug doses, treatment rates, or withdrawal times. The FDA approves drugs for aquaculture, and the label or a veterinarian governs how each one is used. Guides name the drug class and the rule behind it, never the number.
Every figure names its species. A water temperature that suits tilapia can stress trout. So each temperature, oxygen level, stocking rate, and feeding rate states the species it fits.
Legal status comes before stocking. Some species are restricted or banned in some states, usually because escaped fish could spread. Species guides tell you to check with your state before you buy.
Food safety follows the rules. Shellfish harvest depends on how the state classifies the water under the National Shellfish Sanitation Program. Seafood processing follows FDA seafood HACCP rules. We point to both and never suggest shortcuts.
The team and the byline
The site is the work of five people, each responsible for a defined part of it. The About page lists their roles.
Every guide passes through at least two of them before it’s published. That’s why guides carry an Editorial Team byline. Crediting one person would misstate how the work gets done.
Choosing topics
A topic gets written only after it passes two tests.
Does a real farmer need the answer? We write for questions that people search for and that readers send in.
Can we beat what’s already published? That usually means one species’ figures in one place, math carried through to pond size, regional differences side by side, or what a permit rule actually requires.
A topic that misses on either count stays on the list until it can pass.
Our sources, in order of preference
Each guide starts from the highest authority available and moves down only when it has to.
Federal agencies. USDA NASS and its Census of Aquaculture, the USDA Economic Research Service, and USDA APHIS for animal health. Then NOAA Fisheries for marine farming, the EPA for discharge permits, and the FDA for drugs, seafood safety, and shellfish sanitation.
The Regional Aquaculture Centers. Congress set up five centers, covering the Northeast, the North Central states, the South, the West, and the tropical and subtropical Pacific. USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture administers them, and their fact sheets are written for farmers.
Land-grant extension. We match the service to the reader’s region where possible: Mississippi State, Texas A&M AgriLife, New Mexico State, Tennessee, Alabama Extension, UF/IFAS, and others.
State agencies. For licenses, legal species, and shellfish harvest areas.
Peer-reviewed research. Journals such as Aquaculture and the North American Journal of Aquaculture, for questions extension publications leave open.
Manufacturer documents. Spec sheets, operating manuals, and product labels.
Buyer feedback. Recurring points in verified purchase reviews, limited to practical matters such as whether a meter keeps its calibration, and always marked as owner reports.
Forums, social media posts, other blogs and review sites, and unsourced press releases never count as sources.
Figures that must be sourced
If a figure changes with species, system, or region, the sentence that holds it also names its source. The rule covers water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and alkalinity. It also covers stocking density, feeding rates, feed protein, feed conversion, growth and harvest sizes, water use, and permit thresholds.
Statistics carry their year: the 2023 Census of Aquaculture, never just “recent data.” Costs carry a source and a year too, because feed and power prices move.
Units and readings
Guides use US units: gallons, acres, pounds, and degrees Fahrenheit. Dissolved oxygen appears in mg/L or ppm, which mean the same thing in fresh water. When a source reports in metric, we convert it and note the original.
The second check
No guide goes live until a second team member has opened every source it cites. That person finds every figure in the original document and checks its species, unit, and region.
Any claim without a traceable, named source is removed.
When sources disagree
It happens often. Each extension service works in its own water and climate, and a pond in Mississippi doesn’t behave like a raceway in Idaho.
So when two sources give different figures, such as different oxygen levels for starting aerators, the guide shows both and names both. Splitting the difference would produce a figure no one ever published.
Thin research
Much of the published research comes from commercial farms and university test ponds. Small backyard systems and less common species get far less study.
In those cases, the guide states the gap. Claims from breeders or sellers are marked as theirs. Knowing the limits of the evidence helps you more than a confident guess.
Laws, permits, and labels
Rules change. States revise their lists of legal species, and federal agencies update their requirements. Guides name the rule, the agency behind it, and the date we checked it.
After a rule changes, the guide gets updated, along with a note saying what changed.
Equipment coverage
Gear pages are where overstatement creeps in most easily, so they carry extra rules.
- No claims of hands-on testing
- Specifications taken from the manufacturer, never copied from another review site
- Owner reports clearly labeled as owner reports
- No prices
- No links to drugs, medicated feeds, or chemical pond treatments
- Specifications weighed against the job, such as aerator power for a given pond size
- Electrical safety flagged for pumps, aerators, and heaters used near water
A product claim we can’t document doesn’t make it onto the page.
Money and independence
Commissions from affiliate links on some Gear pages fund the site. Our affiliate disclosure explains how they work.
Coverage and list placements aren’t for sale, and companies never read a guide before readers do. Sponsored articles and paid guest posts don’t appear here. Guides show costs and risks from published research, never promises of income.
Corrections and updates
Fixing errors. A mistake gets corrected on the page with a note saying what changed and which source supports the fix. Numbers never change quietly.
Scheduled reviews. Water quality and aeration guides are reviewed each spring, before summer heat pulls oxygen down. Statistics are updated when USDA releases a new census. Rules are rechecked whenever an agency announces a change.
Flagging an error. Email editor@aquaculturefarm.org with the page, the figure, your species and system, and the reference you’re checking it against.
Images and charts
Photos show real farms, real fish, and real gear. A fish health photo is marked as an example and never presented as a diagnosis.
Images of fish in distress or procedures in progress stay off the site. The team photos on our About page are real, and no other image presents anyone as a spokesperson for the site.
Every chart is built from the sourced figures in the text beside it. Illustrations, such as a daily oxygen curve, are labeled as illustrations.
Questions about this policy
Send them to editor@aquaculturefarm.org. If any line here reads unclearly, let us know and we’ll reword it.
Last reviewed: 10/09/2026
