Editing Mariculture (section)

===Inshore===
[[Image:MH Lochailort.jpg|thumb|Fish cages containing [[salmon]] in [[Loch Ailort]], Scotland, an [[littoral zone|inshore water]]]]

Inshore mariculture is farming marine species such as algae, fish, and shellfish in waters affected by the tide, which include both [[littoral zone|littoral water]]s and their [[estuary|estuarine environments]], such as bays, brackish rivers, and naturally fed and flushing saltwater ponds.

Popular cultivation techniques for inshore mariculture include creating or utilizing artificial reefs,<ref name="abc.net.au-2014-08-15">{{cite web
 | url =http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-15/nrn-abalone-wild-farm/5673010
 | title =First wild abalone farm in Australia built on artificial reef 
 | last =Fitzgerald
 | first =Bridget
 | date =28 August 2014
 | website =Australian Broadcasting Corporation Rural
 | publisher =Australian Broadcasting Corporation
 | access-date =23 April 2016
 }}</ref><ref name="abc.net.au-2016-04-23">{{cite web
 | url =http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-23/world-first-abalone-sea-ranch-creating-opportunity/7345448
 | title =Abalone grown in world-first sea ranch in WA 'as good as wild catch'
 | last =Murphy
 | first =Sean
 | date =23 April 2016
 | website =Australian Broadcasting Corporation News.
 | publisher =Australian Broadcasting Corporation
 | access-date =23 April 2016}}</ref> pens, nets, and long-line arrays of floating cages moored to the bottom.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.brookstrapmill.com/product/6-bag-oyster-ranch-squared-bags/ | title=6-bag Oyster Ranch, Squared Bags }}</ref>

As a result of simultaneous global development and evolution over time, the term "ranch" being associated typically with inshore mariculture techniques has proved problematical.  It is applied without any standardized basis to everything from marine species being raised in floating pens, nested within artificial reefs, tended in cages (by the hundreds and even thousands) in long-lined groups, and even [[operant conditioning]] migratory species to return to the waters where they were born for harvesting (also known as "enhanced stocking").{{efn|As is done in Japan where fishermen raise hatchlings in a closely knitted net in a harbor, sounding an underwater horn before each feeding. When the fish are old enough they are freed from the net to mature in the open sea. During spawning season, about 80% of these fish return to their birthplace. The fishermen sound the horn and then net those fish that respond.<ref>Arnason, Ragnar (2001) [http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y1805e/y1805e07.htm#bm07.1 Ocean Ranching in Japan] In: ''The Economics of Ocean Ranching: Experiences, Outlook and Theory'', FAO, Rome. {{ISBN|92-5-104631-X}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Masuda R |author2=Tsukamoto K |year=1998|url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/umrsmas/bullmar/1998/00000062/00000002/art00005 |title=Stock Enhancement in Japan: Review and perspective|journal=Bulletin of Marine Science|volume=62|issue=2|pages=337–358}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Lindell, Scott |author2=Miner S|author3= Goudey C|author4= Kite-Powell H |author5=Page S |year=2012|url=https://www.fra.affrc.go.jp/bulletin/bull/bull35/35-12.pdf|title=Acoustic Conditioning and Ranching of Black Sea Bass ''Centropristis striata'' in Massachusetts USA|journal=Bull. Fish. Res. Agen.|volume=35|pages=103–110}}</ref>}}