Oyster farming is an aquaculture (or mariculture) practice in which oysters are bred and raised mainly for their pearls, shells and inner organ tissue, which is eaten. Oyster farming was practiced by the ancient Romans as early as the 1st century BC on the Italian peninsula and later in Britain for export to Rome. The French oyster industry has relied on aquacultured oysters since the late 18th century. History Oyster farming was practiced by the ancient Romans as early as the 1st century BC on the Italian peninsula. With the Barbarian invasions the oyster farming in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic came to an end. In fact, the Romans were the very first to cultivate Oysters. The Roman engineer Sergius Orata is known for his innovative ways of breeding and commercializing oysters. He did this by cultivating the mollusk with a system that could control the water levels. In 1852 Monsieur de Bon started to re-seed the oyster beds by collecting the oyster spawn using makeshift catchers. An important step to the modern oyster farming was the oyster farm built by Hyacinthe Boeuf in the Ile de Ré. After obtaining the rights to a part of the coast he built a wall to make a reservoir and to break the strength of the current. Some time later the wall was covered with spat coming spontaneously from the sea which gave 2000 baby oysters per square metre. The Ancient Romans started farming the Thames Estuary in Hampton-On-Sea, or Kent, England from the 1st Century to approximately the 4th Century. They would export the oysters back to Rome and throughout the Roman Empire. Then on July 25, 1864, The Herne Bay Hampton and Recuiver Oyster Fishery Company moved into the area to start oyster farming. In the 1870s the oyster trade suffered from overfishing and sent the industry into a decline. This caused the government of England to make the 1877 Act to solve the problem. This act prevented the sale of dredged oysters from the months of June through August, and freshwater pond oyster sales from between May and August. A couple of years later the company closed its doors and all the assets were sold by 1881, closing the oyster farming in the Thames Estuary area in England. Another place in England that is famous for its oyster fishing is Whistable. The area's “kentish flats” have been used since the