Abstract: Fish farming was initiated in Estonia in the 1890s by German landowners, who reared brown trout and common carp in ponds.Development towards intensive fish farming began in the 1960s.The Department of Fish Farming of the Estonian Institute of Animal Breeding and Veterinary Science carried out applied research on problems related to freshwater pond farming.The main topics of the research included technology of carp culture under the climatic conditions of Estonia, improvement of the performance of carp strains by selective breeding, measures of treatment of fish against parasitary diseases, and problems of rainbow trout farming in fresh water.The Laboratory of Marine Fish Rearing of the Tallinn Department of the Baltic Fishery Research Institute dealt with a broad range of topics of fish farming in sea water, feed composition and quality, fish physiology and diseases, construction of recirculation systems, etc. in the 1970s-80s.