Fisheries can be categorised into two types.

1. Fin fisheries

2. Non-fin fisheries.

The fin fisheries of true fishes, whereas the non-fin fisheries is the fisheries of organisms other than true fish like prawn, crab, lobster, mussel, oyster, sea cucumbers, frog, sea weeds, etc.

Fin fisheries can be further categorised into two types

1. Capture fisheries

2. Culture fisheries.

Capture fisheries is exploitation of aquatic organisms without stocking the seed. Recruitment of the species occur naturally. This is carried out in the sea, rivers, reservoirs, etc. Fish yield decreases gradually in capture fisheries due to indescriminate catching of fish including brooders and juveniles. Overfishing destroys the fish stocks. Pollution and environmental factors influence the fish yield. The catches include both desirable and undesirable varieties.

Culture fisheries is the cultivation of selected fishes in confined areas with utmost care to get maximum yield. The seed is stocked, nursed and reared in confined waters, then the crop is harvested. Culture takes place in ponds, which are fertilized and supplementary feeds are provided to fish to get maximum yield. In order to overcome the problems found in capture fisheries to increase the production, considerable attention is being given to the culture fisheries.

Culture fisheries is conducted in freshwater, brackish water and sea waters. With the development and expansion of new culture systems, farming of a wide variety of aquatic organisms like prawns, crabs, molluscs, frogs, sea weeds, etc. have come under culture fisheries. Due to the culture of a variety of aquatic organisms, culture fisheries has been termed as aquaculture.