廣義的水產養殖應包含食用水產動植物與藻類培育、休閒釣遊與觀賞水族；而廣義觀賞水族則包含非犬貓與鳥禽之多樣化寵物飼養、技術資訊與休閒娛樂。觀賞水族發展已有千年歷程，惟明顯變化集中於近百年間。全球水族相關產業全年貿易量值超過150億美金，每年仍有2-15%不等規模持續成長；活體動物生產與貿易流通雖多有低估，但仍具超過3億美金量值。歐盟為主要消費市場，美國為最大消費國家，亞洲則供應全球超過60%量值之淡、海水觀賞魚活體，臺灣供應狀態不及全球貿易量值1%。小型化、精緻化、景觀化、生態化、資訊化與專業化，為水族市場發展趨勢，活體生物生產與貿易流通仍為產業發展核心與軸心，影響週邊產業發展甚鉅，且資訊與技術為主導產業發展之重要推力；未來將緊密結合科技、資訊、景觀園藝與環保生態，成為兼具休閒娛樂、寵物飼養、景觀營造與科普教育等功能之多樣面貌。

In general, the applications of aquaculture include the breeding of aquatic animals, plants and algae recreational fishing and ornamental aquarium industry. The aquarium industry comprises the pet culture and leisure entertainment without mammals and birds. The ornamental aquarium industry has been developed for thousand years. However, this industry has been paid much more attention in recent years. The trade in the global ornamental fish and related industries are estimated to be fifteen billion US dollars. The ornamental aquarium trade has been keeping 2 to 15% growth per year. Although the production of living aquatic animal and under-estimated, the amount of flows of trade is still over 30 million US dollars. The European Union is the major consumer market for ornamental fish. Asian countries provide over 60% amount of global freshwater and seawater living aquatic organisms. However, Taiwanese industry provides only 1% of the global living ornamental fish. The characteristics of this industry include miniaturization, refinement, ecology, landscape, informatization, and specialization. The core of this industry is based on the production of living aquatic organisms and the flows of trade which highly influence the peripheral industry. The innovation of techniques and informatization are the main propulsion of this industry. In the future, the combination of the informatization, technology, landscape gardening, and environment friendly ecology will become the mainstream of recreation, pet culture, landscape and education of popular science.