In 1930, Japan began the first intensive aquaculture of marine fish, raising Japanese amberjack, mackerel, and seabream in enclosures. This marked a significant advance in fish farming, moving beyond traditional pond culture to controlled marine environments. The techniques developed in Japan would later spread worldwide, transforming the global seafood industry. This innovation was driven by the need to supplement declining wild catches and to meet the growing demand for seafood in the Japanese diet.

Japanese aquaculture appears in modern haiku and tanka, where poets like Masaoka Shiki and Taneda Santōka referenced fish farming as a symbol of human ingenuity and the changing relationship with nature. The industry also inspired the development of 'fishery literature' in Japan, a genre that explores the social and environmental consequences of intensive fish production.