Aquaculture researchers from National Taiwan University (NTU) say that genetic analysis is yielding new insight into the workings of a virus that has devastated shrimp stocks in the nation since it was discovered in 1992.
Although her team is working on a way of inoculating shrimp against the dreaded White Spot Syndrome Baculovirus Complex(WSSV), aquaculture researcher Lo Chu-fang (羅竹芳) said that there was much Taiwanese shrimp farmers could do to overcome the disease through better aquaculture practices.
"We found that during periods of stress, the level of WSSV increases in the shrimp's body at an astonishing rate," Lo said. "For instance, we have observed virus levels increasing 100,000-fold during spawning, which is a stressful event."
Local shrimp-rearing methods put a lot of stress on shrimp stocks because local shrimp farmers tend to adopt a very intensive approach, Lo said.
"We are talking about keeping up to a million shrimp per hectare of aquaculture pond whereas abroad 300,000 to 400,000 is the norm," Lo said.
She said that not only were crowded shrimp more susceptible to WSSV, the conditions may have actually caused the condition in the first place.
"WSSV did not appear until 1992," said Lo, who has been working on the virus for many years. "Our research found that previously the virus was an obscure and largely harmless one affecting certain species of crab."
However, once the virus started affecting farmed shrimp, it spread rapidly.
"They say that WSSV spreads as the wind blows," Lo said.
Major asian shrimp production areas are affected, including Thailand and China. However, Australia remains unaffected by WSSV.
Lo's research, which includes the discovery of a way of testing for WSSV, has helped some shrimp producers abroad drastically reduce losses to WSSV from up to 80 percent to less than 5 percent.
Paradoxically, Taiwanese producers have been slower to adopt the researchers' advice, Lo said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS