Aquaculture as we know it at the beginning of the 21st century is a consolidation of more or less independent experiences. Carvings indicate that the Egyptians were cultivating fish at least 2,500 years ago. The Chinese claim to have been growing fish for centuries. The Romans had fishponds (piscinae). In the 14th century, the emperor Charles IV ordered all towns to build fish ponds to produce food, enhance the local environment and protect watersheds. Paleolithic Hawaiian Islanders isolated embayments for rearing fish in the sea. Whatever the original objective of these aquaculture initiatives was, from each evolved a set of concepts that, until quite recently, strongly influenced how aquaculture interacted with local society and the environment.