Handbook on Open Sea Cage Culture 27 SITE AND SPECIES SELECTION CRITERIA FOR CAGE CULTURE Jayasree Loka, N.G.Vaidya and K.K. Philipose C age farming is one of the alternative to inland and brackish water farming to increase fish and shellfish production. Cage culture has been successfully practiced to culture marine finfish for many years. In Australia, Norway, Chile and some of Asian countries, cage culture is being successfully practiced since the 1950’s. Due to their large consumption value there is an increasing demand for the culture of many marine finfishes. This further led to an increased demand for marine aquaculture throughout the world. A number of diversity of types and designs of cages are developed of which four types of cages viz., fixed, floating, submersible and submerged are the most common proposed by Beveridge (1996). To establish a cage culture system, a thorough knowledge of site where the cages are to be installed is required which can be met with the data available with Govern ment organizations, local people as well as the extensive field survey to understand the topography, water and sediment quality. III